Documentary 2
by ShinyCDiver
Summary: A continuation from the first Documentary. It is highly recommended that the first fic be read before reading this one as it will make more sense that way.
1. Love Live Once Again!

**Welcome to season two of "Love Live But Not Really!" where the Love Live characters are-oh wait, that's the wrong script...This is Documentary 2...Forget I just said that!**

 **But in all seriousness, this is Documentary 2 (super creative, I know), the second season of Love Live School Idol Project, and the fic that has had nothing to do with being a documentary since the second chapter of the first installment.**

 **There is a romance tag this time. Because the yuri is strong within this fic now for some reason. (Though who really needs a reason for yuri? :3)**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Love Live.**

* * *

"Congratulations on becoming Student Council President!" Honoka blinked, dumbfounded, as Hanayo, Maki, and Kotori showered her with confetti. In her shock, she couldn't make a comeback quick enough before they pushed past her and walked into her room as if they lived there.

"Wai- I'm the new…" Honoka finally caught up with the current situation she was in. "Why are all of you walking into my room?! I didn't let you in!" Despite this, she simply closed the door and sat back down at her desk.

"It's pretty much accepted that Muse holds no secrets from each other." Hanayo told her, though Honoka suspected that the first year was only saying that so they could read her manga in peace. Maki had already re-discovered the manga stack and was distributing the volumes to the other two girls. "Ah, I already read this volume. Pass me the next one."

"Here." Sadly, Honoka had become accustomed to the first years, particularly Hanayo, visiting for the sole purpose of reading. She just wasn't sure exactly when her room became a gathering place for everyone else, since they seemed to hold more meetings in her house/room than anywhere else outside of school.

"I thought you'd be more panicked about being the next president." Eri said with a tone of disappointment as she took her normal space in Honoka's bedroom, sitting on Honoka's desk chair.

"No, I'm just refusing to acknowledge it. Besides, I never even ran for it, so…" Honoka wished she had closed out the game she was playing on her laptop, and now hoped desperately that Eri wouldn't turn and look at it.

"Ah, if that's what you're concerned about, me and Umi-chan nominated you and everyone in school just went for it!" Kotori said cheerfully from her seat on Honoka's bed.

"Having Eri and Nozomi supporting you helped too, since they were on the student council before." Umi said in an attempt to be reassuring, completely misunderstanding Honoka's hope that it was a joke on the part of Eri.

"Seriously, Honoka? How have you not known until now?" Nico scoffed. "The posters were all over the halls and those two spent a lot of time handing out flyers."

"I…" Honoka didn't know how to explain that she had been pretty much going to school and leaving as soon as she could, so posts on the bulletin boards had never interested her. Or that she didn't go out of her way to check on each of her friends and see how they were doing. It was more often that they invited themselves to her room than the other way around. "I must have...not noticed?"

"Anyway." Eri said, cutting off Nico's next scathing comment. "Honoka is the new Student Council President-" As if they had been waiting for her to say that, the other members clapped, including the first years who didn't even look up from their manga. "-on top of being Muse's center, so it's fine to put more pressure on her."

"H-Hey!" Honoka protested weakly, then looked helplessly as her friends all nodded in agreement.

"Ah, Kotori and I are on the student council too, so we'll help you out if you need it." This time, Umi was on the right track and Honoka mouthed a silent 'thank you' to the other second years.

"By the way, your first task is to present a speech at the upcoming assembly." Nozomi informed her, much to Honoka's inner distress. "But Umi-chan covered you this time, and wrote a speech."

"All you have to do is memorize it, Honoka." Umi said, handing Honoka a somewhat crumpled piece of paper.

"Not to put more pressure on you or anything, but the speech is going to be filmed so don't mess up." Eri said teasingly. "And with that, we'll take our leave so the new Student Council President can get acquainted with her new role."

"Nico-chi, wanna get a parfait?" Nozomi asked as she opened the door and held it open for the other third year.

"Yeah, we'll go there, and you'll order like, a giant one that you want to share with me but I just want a normal drink and you'll make yourself sick because you refuse to admit that you can't finish it by yourself." Nico said coldly.

"Great! Let's go!" Nozomi smiled despite Nico's remark because she had stopped listening after the shorter girl's first word.

"Umi-chan, can we go to the arcade? I want to practice dancing there again!" Umi smiled gently as Kotori pulled her from the room, still going on about what she wanted to do once they got to their destination.

"Well, good luck on the speech, Honoka." And with that, the person she considered the biggest pain in her life left. Honoka looked at the paper in her hand, making her way to the seat at her desk while reading the speech Umi had written for her.

* * *

"So...do you three plan on leaving? Preferably sometime soon?" The question was directed at the first year trio, still huddled together as they read. Maki shook her head, which was better than most days, where none of the trio even bothered responding to her. Honoka had every right to kick them out; she just never did, so the girls stayed as long as they wanted to.

"And, in the end, she didn't remember a single word of the speech." Honoka lifted her face to see who was speaking, then lowered it again. She didn't want to deal with anyone at the moment, particularly not Eri, who made her feel weird. She couldn't exactly pin down what she felt about the older student, other than she was a good friend, because she mostly felt confused when Eri looked at her, and it pissed her off that she was confused which just led to more confusion as to why and the cycle continued. She sighed, her thoughts now on Eri and not the failure of a first speech she had just done.

"Well, the producer was okay with it. Said it was a very Honoka-like performance. Not sure if she meant the on-camera Honoka or this one." Umi had reassured her immediately after she walked off-stage following the messed up speech, though Honoka still felt bad about not being able to memorize the speech Umi put time into preparing for her. She could feel it already; she was going to get dragged into doing more than she should for the sake of her friends, as she had already done once before. She shuddered at the memory of going so overboard she collapsed during a live.

"They also want us to start preparing for entrance into Love Live." Nico reminded them. "Since we're doing the actual thing this time, we have to make our own way into the contest." There was the pressure from that as well. Honoka had to figure out how they were going to participate in Love Live when her only previous experience was the fake Love Live set up by the producers to make the real event more popular. "The main decisions have to be made by Honoka but I say we should try for it."

"Eh? What happened to the Nico-chi who was only interested in earning extra money for her family?" Nozomi teased, causing Nico to scowl with displeasure.

"They've pretty much locked me out of the house most of the time now, saying that I should spend more time with Muse." Nico admitted sullenly. "So, we've got to make it to the finals or this will be a very short and boring season."

"They could film us crying for like, five episodes after we lose the preliminaries if they really wanted to drag it out." Maki suggested.

"That's just saying we're going to lose right from the beginning. I don't think we'd lose that easily!" Rin retorted, then sank back in her seat, embarrassed.

"We won't lose easily." Honoka said, finally sitting up straight. "We're fake idols, sure, but we wouldn't lose easily. But...I'm not sure if we're up for doing this."

"Mayke up your mind. 'We won't lose easily' but you're not sure we're up for it?" Hanayo scoffed. "It's either one or the other, not both."

"Honoka's just worried about passing out on us again." Like always, Eri seemed to know exactly what she was thinking about. Honoka just couldn't understand how, and it contributed to the general confusion she felt towards the blonde. It hadn't been like this when they started filming the first season. Back then, she felt on equal footing with the other girl, even though Eri was her senior. But as the season continued, she found herself unable to understand Eri as much as Eri was understanding her, and it both angered and saddened her. Angered because she couldn't understand why she wanted to understand Eri and saddened because she just couldn't grasp what Eri thought in the same way that Eri did for her. She missed the next part of the conversation because of the confusion in her mind.

"Honoka, we were saying that you could rely on us." Nozomi said gently.

"Not all of us said that but whatever…" Nico muttered, trailing off after Nozomi glared at her.

And so, it was decided that they would do their best for Love Live, after they filmed a more dramatic take on Honoka's worry about dragging her friends down.

* * *

 **Honoka's developing feelings for Eri (which were pretty pronounced at the end of the first fic) is also developing into a subplot (kind of?) for this series.**

 **Who knows what Nico and Nozomi are up to.**

 **Umi and Kotori seem to be spending a lot of time at the arcade or watching movies.**

 **Don't think Rin and Hanayo seem to be getting anywhere either.**

 **I know Anju and Erena are pretty stable. Probably. Most likely. Haven't seen them in a while.**

 **Is Tsubasa still buying Maki merchandise?**

 **Let's just start a garden of lilies here.**

 **This outro is a mess. I'm sorry. Reviews?**


	2. Aim for Victory

**The last one wasn't updated that quickly (minus the last few chapters of it) and I'll be doing my best to update this one on a regular basis. No promises, because the next semester is starting (for me) and I don't know how much time that will take up. Nevertheless, I will still be writing bit by bit until the chapters are finished and I can release them.**

 **And yes, there is Eri POV in this chapter (for the first time in forever~ shutting up now)**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Love Live. Or any other anime mentioned in this chapter.**

 **Warning: Lots of Honoka rambling about anime/Nanjou Yoshino. You have been warned.**

* * *

Honoka paced around her bedroom, deep in thought about how they were going to win Love Live. Just entering the preliminaries meant that they needed to make an original song, something Muse hadn't done before as everything was prepared by the producers. Now that they were going to do it all by themselves, the first thing they needed would to be to produce a song that was their own. Thankfully Maki and Umi had the skills and were willing to do such a task, or else their goal would have been shut down completely from the beginning. But as leader, she wanted to help Umi and Maki in any way she possibly could, and just didn't know how.

"Well...thinking about it is not going to get anything done so let's just sit down and play some games…" Honoka told herself as she sat down at her laptop. She had just gotten back on the internet when the computer alerted her to an incoming video call. As much as she didn't want to answer at the moment, she clicked on the accept button and waited for Eri to get centered in her web cam.

"Honoka, meet me at the train station as fast as you can." Honoka frowned, confused by the order. Eri's tone indicated that something urgent needed her attention, yet the third year was sitting at her desk in her room, quite calm. And was that her poster in the background?

"Okay? What are we doing there?" Honoka asked, seeing as she had the opportunity to do so while Eri was still in the call.

"No time to explain." Honoka thought she must have a lot of time to explain, giving the leisurely atmosphere that she could almost imagine around Eri. "See you there." And just as abruptly as the call began, Eri hung up. Honoka looked at her clothing, wondering if it was appropriate to wear what she had just been sleeping in outside the house. It wasn't pajamas so she assumed it was okay. Her phone beeped with the sound of an incoming message. She opened it.

 _And bring enough clothing and stuff for an overnight trip._ Looks like Eri had forgotten to mention something again, Honoka realized with a sigh. She closed out the message and looked around for her camping backpack. Perhaps they were holding a sleepover at someone else's house.

* * *

"That takes care of her." Eri stretched as she leaned back in her chair. "Honestly, if she didn't want to be the last one knowing everything then she should get out more often and talk to us." But Eri had to admit she liked Honoka's pace of accepting everything as it came, though she felt that it contradicted at times with the second year's way of going overboard for the weirdest things. She just felt that having such a dense junior was getting in the way of having her feelings realized. Honoka probably didn't even know why she was getting called out in the manner Eri just performed. "She's so hopeless, but that's…" Eri didn't finish her sentence. It would be embarrassing to be overheard by Arisa, especially when her younger sister had a close friendship with Honoka's little sister. She picked up her already packed bag and left her room, pausing only to look at the only anime poster hanging in her room. "Honestly. She's just like a little kid sometimes. Easy to read, but so hard to understand." The person depicted on the poster stayed motionless, not that Eri was expecting a picture to move on its own. She gazed at it for a few more seconds, then shook her head and left the room.

She was the second to last one to arrive at the train station, as expected, as she had to tell Honoka to meet them there at the last minute. At this point, Honoka was pretty much leader in name, since so many decisions were made without her present or, without her knowledge of the decision until the last possible moment.

"Did you tell her why she needed to come?" Nozomi asked, shifting slightly closer to Nico with each word.

"No, I just told her to come. And bring stuff for an overnight trip." Eri shrugged, watching with slight amusement as Nico was caught unaware with a hug from behind.

"Do you think she'd get it?" Nico gave up on shoving the other third year off-she had given up much more quickly recently, Eri noted-and focused her attention on Eri instead.

"Probably not. Honoka probably thinks it's a sleepover or something. She's not exactly well-known for being able to recognize these flags for someone who spent most of her life watching out for these sorts of things in anime." Eri allowed herself to laugh at Honoka's expense but Nico just fixed with her a half-amused, half-irritated look.

"It's not exactly like you're trying hard to make it known either. Just hurry up and-"

"Become as lovey-dovey as me and Nico-chi!" Nozomi interrupted, with all of her normal enthusiasm.

"-tell her how you feel." Nico finished as if the interruption had never happened. "And who said we were lovey-dovey, you great oblivious idiot?" Eri gazed upon her two closest friends with a feeling akin to wanting to protect them. At the same time though, she couldn't understand their relationship since Nico often spoke harshly to Nozomi, and Nozomi simply brushed it off as if they were nothing. The shorter girl was now trying unsuccessfully to push the taller third year off her.

"Umi-chan, why'd you bring so much stuff?" Rin was asking the blue-haired second year as they waited for Honoka to show up at the station.

"Because...it's my calling!" Umi had more sparkle in her eyes than normal, and it was Kotori who provided an explanation rather than the other way around.

"She just really likes going to the mountains. It's a little more noticeable now that she's gotten used to expressing herself." Kotori said, mostly ignoring the bluenette as she posed behind her.

"I see…" Rin decided not to go any further with that topic and instead turned to Maki and Hanayo, no longer wanting to be left out of anything the other two first years were doing.

"But Honoka's a bit late, isn't she?" Umi remarked, coming out of her almost euphoric state of imagining the mountains. "Even putting aside the time she would need to get ready on the short notice we gave her."

* * *

At that moment, Honoka was trying to figure out what to say to Eri regarding the poster she spotted behind the blonde during the video call. She wanted it back, as it had been signed by the character's voice actress, but knowing that Eri had chosen to display it in her own room almost made it seem like Eri was a fan of the same things she was. She also was a bit hesitant to walk into the train station because she had witnessed Umi posing in the place like it was her bedroom and didn't care about who was looking at her. Needless to say, she was confused as to why everyone was gathered at the station when only Eri had contacted her. She still had to go in, and sooner was probably better than later.

"About time you got here, Honoka." Nico said with a scowl, her arms crossed in an intimidating manner. But with her small stature -and Nozomi draping over her like a large blanket- it didn't have the desired effect.

"Sorry, I didn't know I was making everyone wait." Honoka apologized out of reflex, though she felt that it wasn't her fault as the last one notified. Even if none of them said so, it was obvious from their presence and aura that each of them knew something she didn't. "Is anyone going to tell me why we're-"

"Okay, now that everyone's here, we should hurry to the train." Eri interrupted her. Again, Honoka just couldn't understand her senior. And no explanation seemed forthcoming, so she went with the flow and followed the rest of Muse to the train they would be taking, confused as she was.

"So...where are we going?" Honoka tried asking again once all nine of them were safely aboard the train. "I'm already here, so spill it." She was facing the third years, with Kotori and Umi next to her. The train had seats arranged in rows of three, so that the third years and second years could sit across from each other. The first year trio was sitting in the seats directly behind the second years, so it wasn't as if they were too far away.

"We're holding another training camp! In the mountains!" Umi's energy unnerved her, since the other second year was usually so calm.

"And no one told you because you would protest it the entire time up to the day we left." Eri added. Honoka scowled, mostly out of irritation that Eri had read her again. "Right?" Such a remark didn't deserve an answer, so Honoka changed the subject.

"Why couldn't we just practice like we normally do?" She asked, speaking to the group as a whole.

"Well, because we're making our own thing this time, everyone kinda agreed having a change of atmosphere would be nice." Kotori explained.

"Plus my family had this villa empty so I got permission to use it." Maki put in, leaning over from behind Honoka's seat.

"And mountains!" Umi interrupted brightly.

"Shut up, Umi-chan." With Umi quieted by Kotori-a weird occurrence-Honoka addressed the other thing that had been pressing on her mind since she left her house that morning. There was no point in complaining about how she was always the last one to know anything or about being dragged on a trip since she was already there with no way of getting out of it.

* * *

"Eri-chan, when can I have my poster back?" Eri blinked, startled by the lack of complaining on Honoka's part. She had been expecting at least a little bit of whining about how they never let her know anything until she needed to, and had to think for a bit before realizing what Honoka was talking about.

"The poster that I took from you nearly a month ago? You just remembered about it?" She asked. Well, it was about time that Honoka finally remembered having it taken from her. Eri had been waiting for her junior to ask for it so she could see her cute pouting face when she was denied it for a little longer.

"Yeah that one. And I didn't forget it! I just...wanted you to see how great of an anime it was!" Eri sighed with bliss on the inside. Honoka was just so cute when she was trying to hide her embarrassment, especially with so many other people right next to them.

"It was a really good anime!" Eri said, to the shock of the other members. Truthfully, she hadn't taken any interest in the anime other than to occasionally look at the poster and wonder why Honoka liked the character on it so much. "'Akuma no Riddle', right? So interesting!"

"Y-You really thought so?!" Eri had never seen Honoka as happy as she looked at that moment. "I-I mean, it had a really deep plot." She made a mental note to watch the anime at some point, even though she thought it was childish.

"Yeah! So I'll be keeping the poster, since it has my favorite character on it."

"Really? You like Nio?" Honoka seemed to be deep in thought. Eri wondered if she said something wrong regarding the anime. "I guess she's okay...I don't really like her though…"

"Then why'd you get a poster of her?" Nozomi asked, jumping in on the conversation. Eri thanked Nozomi in her mind and made a note to pay her friend back later on. She wouldn't have known what to say to continue the ploy of having watched the anime.

"That's 'cos her voice actress is that singer I like!" Honoka frowned as Kotori and Umi stared at her. "Yes, I can say I like her without being embarrassed. It's not like you guys didn't know that already."

"I see…" Honoka must like the voice actress a lot, if she obtained a poster of a character she didn't like for the simple reason that the voice actress played her.

"Anyway, that poster means a lot to me. Because I got it signed by the voice actress!" Eri really liked Honoka's expressions as she talked about the voice actress, but she wished that it was her that Honoka was talking about. Her chest hurt when she thought about it, that Honoka liked the voice actress more than she liked her. "Eri-chan, what's wrong?" And, like always, Honoka managed to pick up on the exact moment Eri was about to give up on her and revive her hope that their relationship would eventually bloom.

"Nothing. Just thinking that Nio wasn't really as good a character as I thought she was." Eri said, managing to smile at Honoka's triumphant look.

"See? You're better off with-" Honoka named some characters that Eri didn't know, "-and I suggest watching 'Toaru Kagaku no Railgun' if you like more action filled anime. But I hate that guy! He gets in the way of all the pairings!"

"'Toaru Kagaku no Railgun', huh? I'll give it a watch once we get back." Eri said. "Is that voice actress a main character there?"

"No, but she sings the opening theme song as a part of her band. Well, she does voice a character, but her character's not main main. I just like the Railgun." A weird image of Honoka hugging a piece of weaponry entered Eri's mind and she entertained it for a few seconds before pushing it away. Maybe getting to know Honoka's interests would be a good way at getting her junior to recognize her feelings for her.

* * *

The mountain villa was just as large as the beachside one, perhaps even larger since the property included the land around it.

"My family comes here every winter for Christmas and Santa-san always delivers my presents here! This is by far my favorite villa out of all the ones we own!" Maki said as explanation for why they wouldn't be able to use the fireplace, even though it was the first time most of them had seen one in a house.

"Maki-chan still believes in Santa Claus?" Nico said in disbelief.

"Nico-chi, out!" Nozomi said, cutting in before Nico could make her normal scathing remark.

"This is the purest Maki-chan I've seen so let's leave her like that!" Rin pleaded. Maki grumbled.

"What's that supposed to mean, Rin?"

"It means that Maki-chan is Maki-chan." Hanayo said, on the same wavelength as Rin in regards to Maki's belief. The red-head still looked confused but she was willing to let it slide.

"But Santa-san only brings gifts to good kids right?" Honoka said, thinking back to what she knew about Maki. The only things that came to mind were things that normally wouldn't be considered good: jumping off the second floor onto a pile of pillows, purposely setting up pranks with Hanayo, slacking when no one was paying attention to her, taking up space in other people's room as if she lived there.

"Yeah, that doesn't make sense." Maki admitted.

"No, Honoka-chan, stop!" Rin shouted.

"Well, putting that aside." Umi interrupted, bringing all attention on her. "Where are the tents? Let's do this outside, so we'll be closer to nature!"

"...Did someone poison Umi or something?" Nico muttered, but the bluenette wasn't listening to any of them anymore. She was off on a search for the needed tents, and nothing would dissuade her.

It was more of a camping trip, though Maki and Umi somehow managed to put together a pretty good song. Kotori made the outfit designs as well while Eri figured out the choreography for their dance. All that was needed was to find a place for their performance. Which was Honoka's job. Finally she wouldn't be the last one to learn about something!

* * *

 **And that's this chapter!**

 **Next episode: Yume no Tobira! (I like the Japanese name more than the English one)**

 **By the way, just as a side note, the only fanwork I do are posted on this site and deviantart under the pen name Chinorwegia (or, on Deviantart, I misspelled it as Chinowegia) I'm only saying this because I found out that someone was plagiarizing Bridges on Wattpad earlier this morning. The same thing has happened before, with Favors. I didn't say anything about that one because it was just that one time and the person stopped afterwards. I do have a Wattpad account, but I have only used it for writing reviews in an attempt to get them to stop copying my work. This is just an alert that any works that look like mine but aren't under my pen name were not put on those sites by me. I don't want any problems with people, so you don't have to seek them out or anything. If you do find one on Wattpad, let me know and I'll leave a review warning the copier. Thank you for reading my stories up to this point and for your continued support for the upcoming chapters.**

 **Again, I don't want to create any trouble with people over the internet. I just want everyone reading my stories to know that I am only posting my stories here. If my work is seen anywhere else, it is not mine.**

 **Sorry if the above seemed too serious or anything. I'm not good with words on the internet, if you couldn't tell that already. Reviews, please? (if any of you are still in the mood to do so after reading that long monologue I wrote following the much more interesting and fun chapter?)**


	3. Yume no Tobira

**Recently I've been playing Fantasy Life. I think Yuelia and Noelia make a good pair.**

 **Episode: Yume no Tobira**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Love Live.**

* * *

"We need a place for our performance. Any suggestions?" Honoka asked seriously as the entire idol cast was gathered in the clubroom at Otonokizaka Academy for the first time in a while. Not at her house or at a random family restaurant, but in the club room, where she felt they belonged. "Let's go one at a time." She stood up and wrote 'Stage Ideas' on the whiteboard.

"Oh! Let's go back to Akihabara and do a performance on the street again!" Kotori suggested. Honoka nodded and put it on the board as a possible choice of location.

"Let's do a song with the mountains as our background." Umi said. Honoka had to double-check to see if the second year was serious with her suggestion. As Umi had been serious, Honoka reluctantly put it on the board, even though she felt that most of the group would agree that going to the mountains just to film an entry for Love Live was not worth the effort.

"I think we should go to an airport. Since our song is kind of that 'follow your dreams' message." Rin put in. Honoka added it to the growing list, noting that going to an airport made more sense than the other two ideas so far, though it was by far the hardest to get permission for.

"No, we should go back to the beach and film the song there." Hanayo said. "Plus we could have a bit of a vacation while we're at the villa." Even though her intentions weren't for the song alone, Honoka added 'beach' to the list of locations they could use.

"Let's keep it simple. Just use the rooftop where we always practice." Nico said.

"But we've already done a live there before." Honoka said, adding it to the list anyways. Nico shrugged, appearing that she didn't really care where the live was going to be held as long as all of them could get there with relative ease.

"Oh! Let's give it a more spiritual background and hold it at the shrine! I'm sure I can get permission!" Nozomi suggested.

"Okay." Honoka acknowledged her input and added it to the board.

"I say we should do it in front of a green screen, so we can add any background we want." Eri said, though she wasn't really focused on the task at hand. She kept glancing down at her lap, and Honoka suspected she was taking the time to play around with her phone. It wasn't the best time for it, but she accepted Eri's suggestion and added it to the board. She would confront her senior later for not paying attention.

"Since we're streaming it," Maki said with a pointed look at Eri, though the blonde didn't notice it. By streaming their live, it would get out to everyone faster but they would not be able to edit in a background the way that blonde intended through the use of a green screen. "it would be better if we used the front of school, right? So we can continue to push Otonokizaka's name out there." They had already done two songs with the front of the school as the background, but it would be easier to film in an area they were already used to.

"Hey, what about holding it at our school with us?" Tsubasa asked as she opened a package of chips and put it on the table for everyone to share.

"Okay, first of all, you're not a part of Muse. Second of all, when did you get here?" Nico snapped immediately.

"At the beginning of this part of the stor-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop. No fourth-wall mentions." Nico said, cutting Tsubasa off.

"It's fine, the author will del-"

"STOP!" Honoka blinked, not believing her comment warranted a shout from the black-haired senior. "...Let's just hear out Tsubasa's idea."

"You know, 'idol cast' refers to all of us in the first season, not just Muse." Tsubasa said, continuing despite Nico's subsequent facepalm. "Anyway, where was I?"

"You just mentioned letting Muse perform at our school." Anju said, sipping from a cup of tea.

"It's not a bad idea, for one of yours." Erena said, ignoring Tsubasa as the leader protested that her ideas had never been bad. "Though the decision is up to Muse as always."

"Voting time. All for...the mountains?" Only Umi raised her hand, so Honoka crossed the idea out gratefully. The bluenette would get over her disappointment shortly, or so she hoped. "Akihabara?" No one raised their hands, not even Kotori who had suggested the stage in the first place. Honoka crossed it out as a potential place as well. "Airport? If we can even secure it?" Kotori and Rin both raised their hands for this one, so Honoka put down two tally marks next to the place. "Beach?" Hanayo and Maki both raised their hands, and after some thought, Tsubasa raised her hand as well. Sighing, Honoka counted all three of their votes and marked it on the board. "Rooftop?" The room was silent and motionless, so she crossed out the word. "Shrine?" Nozomi raised her hand immediately, then grabbed Nico's and forced her to raise it as well. "I'll count that as two then…" It was now tied with the airport as a potential place for their live. "Green screen?" With the exception of some girls helping themselves to chips, there was no reaction. "The front of this school?" Again, no one raised their hands. She crossed out both places. "UTX?" She felt like it would have the most impact, so she raised her hand. To her surprise, Anju and Erena both raised their hands in agreement with her. With one more vote, UTX would be their decided place for their live.

"Eri-chi? Your vote?" Nozomi asked, as she was sitting right next to the other third year.

"I agree with Honoka." Eri responded immediately, not taking her eyes off whatever was in her lap. A bit upset that Eri still wasn't paying attention the one time that she was doing something even remotely leader-like, Honoka added Eri's vote to the tally marks next to UTX.

"Our live will be held at UTX, then. Everyone rest up for the performance." Honoka wiped the board clean and put her marker back where it belonged. "Meeting adjourned."

* * *

Eri continued to watch her phone; she was nearly done with the entire Railgun series. It had been a lot more interesting than she originally thought, and the amount of complex emotions and events made it impossible for a child to get. She would have Honoka give her another recommendation soon.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Honoka peered over her shoulder, making Eri tense up and hide her phone. "Hey...show me…" With a start, Eri realized that they were alone in the room.

"Where did everyone else go?" She asked, partially to find out and partially to change the subject.

"Home. UTX. Arcade. Cafe. I don't know. What were you doing the entire time that you didn't even pay attention to the meeting?" For some reason, telling the ginger straight out that she had been watching anime instead of paying attention seemed like it would degrade her value as a leader-like figure. And had she really missed most of the meeting because of anime? She was sure she had contributed to the meeting at some point, though she wasn't as sure since Honoka was staring unhappily at her. "Can't you tell me?"

"I was just watching some...stuff?" Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, she wished she could take them back. Honoka scowled and stood up.

"I'm locking up the clubroom. Go home so you can watch your 'stuff' without any distractions, Eri-chan."

* * *

Eri listened to the programmed voice telling her that Honoka was unable to pick up the phone at the moment and to call back later. This was the fifth time she called in a row, and she hung up just before the voicemail asked her to leave a message. She had finally realized that Honoka probably misunderstood her and thought that watching whatever it was-as Honoka didn't know-was more important to Eri than Honoka herself. She wanted to let her know that she was mistaken. But Honoka wasn't picking up the phone, and sending a message didn't seem to be the right media to transfer her apology.

"Surely she'll talk to me at the live. It's only a day away, so I'll apologize then." It didn't occur to her to leave a voicemail and have Honoka call her back.

* * *

"My house is not a therapy office." Nico told her irritably as she brought tea for the three of them. "By the way, what's wrong with you?" Eri made some strange noise that barely came close to sounding like any language.

"She says Honoka-chan hasn't spoken to her in three days." Nozomi translated, stroking the listless blonde's hair. "Strange, since they're so close."

"Did you do something stupid?" Nico asked, taking a seat at the table with the other two third years.

"I didn't think it would affect our relationship this greatly…" Eri said, sitting up enough to take a tea cup and sip from it.

"So you did something stupid." Nico concluded. "Did you apologize?"

"How can I when Honoka's not talking to me?!"

"Maybe you should go and force your way into her room! You do that enough times!"

"Okay, first of all, it's Maki who does that. And I don't force my way in!"

"C-Calm down both of you…" Nozomi's voice reminded the two of her presence. Nico took a deep breath, trying to calm down and stop lashing out in front of her. Eri sulked, still bemoaning the loss of Honoka in her life. Even though the loss had only lasted three days so far.

"Just suck it up and apologize for making her misunderstand. I'm sure she'll accept it if she finds out you've been watching anime to understand her." Eri looked at Nico in surprise.

"When did you become a therapist?"

"Ever since you turned my house into your therapy office. Now get out if you're done here." Even though her words were cold, Eri was grateful to have a friend like Nico.

"Thanks, Nico. I'll sort things out with Honoka."

* * *

 **BUT! Not until the episode after the next! (Eri: Ehhh?) Because next episode is a Nico-centric episode and there is no need for any HonoEri drama in it :D (Nozomi: Which means more NicoNozo? :D) (Nico: Ehhhh...)**

 **Next Episode: No. 1 Idol in the Universe!**


	4. No 1 Idol in the Universe

**This chapter took a very sharp turn away from the topic of the episode itself and should probably be considered a one-shot hidden within a chaptered story. Nevertheless, it's staying here because I believe this pairing needs some development too.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Love Live.**

* * *

"I keep telling you to not order a giant parfait by yourself…" Nico sighed as Nozomi's whimpering apology made it to her ear. "Yeah...I'll be there in a few minutes…" With that, she hung up on the other third year and got up from her bed, abandoning the magazine she had been flipping through. Maybe it would be best to go by the market and get some easily digestible and nutritious food for her, even if Nozomi was a pain at times.

"Where you going?" Kotaro asked as she passed by the living room where her three younger siblings were playing.

"Onee-chan is going out again? Is it Muse?" Kokoro followed Nico to the front door.

"Yeah. Onee-chan is going to be out for a bit, so be good for Mama." She smiled and patted Kokoro on the head before putting on her shoes.

"Ah! I got it!" Nico paused, looking at Koko as the other child came out into the hallway. "Onee-chan is going to visit the big Onee-chan!"

"Nojomi...nee-chan…" Kotaro looked around for her. "Not here?"

"Is this what they call a date?!" Kokoro looked expectantly at Nico with shining eyes.

"Like I said, I'm just going out for a bit." Nico said, a bit more irritated than before.

"It's a date! Onee-chan is finally going on a date!" Koko picked up. "Date! Date! Date!"

"Date! Date! Date!" Kokoro chanted, much to Nico's irritation.

"I said it's not a date!" She shouted, sending the children running back to their play, still laughing.

"Onee-chan's mad! It's a date!" Honestly, they were so troublesome sometimes. But they were still her precious family and she wouldn't lay a hand on them no matter how angry they made her, a fact that she hoped each of them knew.

"I'm off, then." She said, expecting the complete disregard for her leaving the home.

"Here. I peeled apples for you." Nozomi looked at the plate of rabbit-apple slices, then rolled over in her bed, facing away from Nico and the food she offered. "You have to eat something."

"Don't wanna. Stomach hurts." With a sigh, Nico put the plate down on the nightstand next to the other girl's bed. She noticed when Nozomi glanced in her direction for a split second before facing the wall again.

"You have to eat that before I let you eat my cooking." That got her attention; Nozomi shifted to look at her, a look of longing on her face.

"What are you making?" She asked quietly. Nico could almost see the gears turning in Nozomi's mind as the third year weighed her desire for Nico's cooking against her stomach's protest at having to eat anything.

"I was thinking of yakiniku. But if you're not feeling well-" Nico didn't even finish her sentence before Nozomi sat up and threw her blanket off in one swift motion.

"I'll eat it! I want to eat it!" Nozomi shouted desperately, as if Nico was going to change her mind if she didn't respond immediately.

"Okay, okay. I'll make it once I see you eat those apples." Nozomi pouted, but took up the plate of apple slices and bit into one. She chewed slowly, all while watching Nico to see when she'd go to the kitchen and start making food. Shaking her head as she would do to one of her younger siblings, Nico headed to the kitchen where she had stored the rest of the groceries she bought. "Oh, I'd better call home and tell them I'm not coming back for dinner." She took her phone out from her back pocket and dialed her mother's cell phone number. "Hello? Mama? I'm going to eat dinner at Nozomi's today, so can you- What?! I'm not planning on sleeping over! I didn't even bring anything I need to stay over! What do you mean, you're locking me out for the night?! Mama?!" Nico scowled at her cell phone. Her mother had hung up on her again. It wasn't the first time she had been locked out of the house at night and forced to sleep over at Nozomi's place, though it always seemed to happen without either of their consent.

"Nico-chi...I finished the apples…" Nozomi entered the kitchen, carrying the now empty plate. After dropping it off at the sink, she turned to leave the kitchen again. "I'll go prepare your pajamas…" So she had heard the rather disastrous phone call after all. It was hard for her not to, in such a small and empty apartment.

"Ah...thanks…" Nico tucked her phone away. She liked cooking, as it was mostly automatic to her and she could let her mind wander freely when not handling knives or flames. Her thoughts drifted, as they always did when she was at Nozomi's apartment, to the reasons that led to Nozomi living alone in the apartment. She was sure that none of the other Muse had ever been allowed to visit, and she doubted that Nozomi would have even let her near the apartment had they not been caught close by in the rain after a trip to the market together. She remembered the first time she had followed Nozomi into her home. It had been just after they returned from their beachside training episode in the first season.

" _Sorry for intruding!"_ She had called out, expecting to be greeted by Nozomi's parents, or one of her relatives at least.

" _You don't have to shout. There's no one else here."_ Nozomi had told her, with a small smile on her face. " _I'll prepare the bath, so you can go first."_ The bathtub in Nozomi's apartment was slightly larger than the one at her own home, and pleasantly warm after the cold of the rain. But she didn't stay that long in there, since Nozomi was as cold as she had been after being caught in the rain.

Dressed in one of Nozomi's shirts, she had left the bathroom with some embarrassment. " _I'm done. You go, Nozomi."_ After not getting a response, she decided to explore and eventually found Nozomi in the kitchen, where she was preparing tea.

" _What do you want for dinner, Nico-chi?"_ Nozomi had shivered as she carried the tray with the tea over to the small table in the living room. Nico had taken it from her at that moment and placed it safely on the table.

" _Go take a bath first. I'll make something."_ Nico had said, pushing Nozomi to the bathroom when the other girl protested against having her guest prepare food. Only when she heard the sliding door to the bath open and the water run did she leave her place holding the bathroom door shut. She had called her mom then too, and was told for the first time that she would be locked out for the night. With no other choice but to stay, she looked through the refrigerator for something nutritious she could make with whatever Nozomi kept at home. To her dismay, she only found a couple eggs and something that looked like chicken wrapped in a bag. Searching the cupboards next, she found a half-empty bottle of ketchup and a container full of rice, along with multiple varieties of snacks. " _Well...at least I can make omurice...even though it's a more childish dish than I would like…"_

" _Something smells good."_ Nozomi had said as she walked into the kitchen, a towel still on her head.

" _Go dry your hair. I'm almost done."_ Nico had scolded her friend, moving a finished omurice onto its plate and preparing to make the second one. Instead of doing so, Nozomi looked around in the drawers for utensils, and placed them on the small table where the teapot still sat. " _If you're not going to listen, at least put your towel here."_ She had lowered the fire so the food wouldn't burn and tugged Nozomi's towel off her head and and put it around her shoulders. " _This way your clothes won't get wet and you won't catch a cold."_

" _Idiots can't catch colds."_ Nozomi had said of herself that night. Nico had ignored it, choosing not to validate a statement that was so obviously wrong. She had plated the second omurice and turned off the fire on the stove before carrying both to the table.

" _Thanks for the food!"_ Both of them had said before starting to eat. Nico had watched Nozomi, wanting to see her reaction to her food.

" _How is it?"_ She had finally asked, as Nozomi had continued eating without a word.

" _It's delicious. You're good at cooking."_ Nozomi had responded.

" _I could have made something more if I had the ingredients."_ Nico told her. " _Besides, you can't live on snacks alone."_

" _Yeah...I know...I was going to go shopping before I came home but…"_ Thunder boomed outside, reminding them of the ongoing storm outside. " _More importantly, are you going to get home okay? I can lend you an umbrella, and your clothes should dry soon."_

" _Even if I were to go home, I wouldn't be able to get inside._ " Nico had said, catching Nozomi's confused look. She had looked a lot more innocent with her hair down, reminding Nico of her own siblings. " _My mom said she'd lock me out for the night. Apparently she thinks that I can stay wherever I am. Sorry about imposing like this."_

" _No, it's fine. It's been a while since I've had someone else around, so...um...sorry if I'm not used to it."_ Even then, she had wondered why Nozomi lived alone. But it wasn't the time to ask. It was never the time to ask, because Nozomi cared much more about maintaining her place in Muse than the way she was living.

So Nico was the only one who knew where Nozomi lived. She had even been given a spare key for when her mother locked her out. It did make her question whether or not Nozomi genuinely had feelings for her-sometimes it seemed like she did, at others it seemed like the other girl was just playing around-but to be given free access to her home like this meant that Nozomi did trust her a lot.

"Nico-chi...hungry…" Nozomi gazed at her from behind the counter that separated their dining table from the kitchen. "Almost done?"

"Yeah. Just a little longer." Nico had an idea. She picked up one of the smaller pieces of meat with her chopsticks and held it in front of Nozomi. "Here. Taste it." She bit back a smile as Nozomi took it eagerly, then spent a few seconds looking like a fish gasping for water from the heat of the food. "How's it taste?"

"Tastes just as good as anything Nico-chi makes!" Nozomi chirped happily. Nico looked back down at the sizzling meat.

"Is that so?" She smiled. "I'm glad."

* * *

 **Nozomi: Food always tastes better when Nico-chi makes it!**

 **Nico: Aren't you just lonely from eating alone all the time?**

 **Eri: Next episode! I can finally make amends with Honoka!**

 **Hanayo: Hold it right there, Eri-chan! (Eri: Eh?!) Next episode is Rin-centric, so you know what that means!**

 **Rin: Lots and lots of RinPana time!**

 **Eri: B-But...my relationship...**

 **Honoka: I'll be going on a trip with Kotori-chan and Umi-chan next time around! It'll be lots of fun! (Though we'll probably not show up at all...)**

 **Next Episode: A New Me!**

 **Eri: ...when am I going to make up with Honoka... T.T**


	5. A New Me

**This chapter is filled with first year antics. Told from Rin's POV.**

 **I would have released this soon after the previous chapter, but I couldn't figure out how I wanted Rin to be portrayed. In the anime, she's against being leader because she didn't think she was cute enough to fill the role (which is unbelievable since Rin's so adorable-personal opinion) but I wanted her to reluctantly accept it this time around. And because Hanayo was too impudent to write easily.**

 **Finally got to this version of the chapter, so here we go.**

* * *

"While the second years are away-" Which they were; all the second year students had left on their field trip to whatever destination it was. "-and the third years are being freaking useless-" This depended on perspective, but neither of the two people listening could argue. One of the third years had all but formally shut herself away in her room and the other two-the other two's actions should best be left alone for the time being. "-I've decided that it's time for us first years to take charge and get something done!" Hanayo declared to the clubroom that was empty of all its usual occupants besides Rin and Maki.

"What do you suggest we do?" Maki asked, looking interested in what Hanayo had to propose. The brunette crossed her arms and closed her eyes, deep in thought.

"I've got it!" She shouted suddenly, startling Rin. "We have...Rin-chan decide!"

"Eh?" The startled first year was tugged out of her seat by her childhood friend. "Eh?" She was pushed to stand in front of the blank whiteboard, facing Maki, who was still seated. "Eh?!" She repeated one last time as Hanayo took her seat. Now she was faced with two highly expectant looks as she stood in front of the board with a marker in hand.

"Excellent idea, Hanayo. Let's hear what Rin has to say." Maki rested her head on her arm as she waited. Hanayo nodded smugly, clearly pleased with herself. Rin was reminded once again how close the two of them seemed to be getting, especially when they worked together to tease her.

"Well...we could go to an amusement park?" The two other first years looked at each other, then back at her.

"No, that has nothing to do with being school idols." Maki interjected. "We should do something that would promote ourselves." Rin sighed; sometimes she couldn't tell if Maki was being serious or just poking fun at her. This seemed to be one of the rare moments where the redhead was actually serious about their potential activities, but Rin reminded herself that she shouldn't be so sure about it.

"Okay, how about we hold a live then? We could get permission from the mall or-" Rin trailed off as Hanayo whipped out a piece of paper with such energy that it was obvious she had been planning to show it off from the beginning.

"Feast your eyes on this!" Hanayo slammed the paper down onto the table between the three of them.

"'A formal request for Muse to perform at the fashion event'...is it?" Hanayo nodded as Maki read the contents of the paper aloud. "But we can't do this ourselves. Muse is all nine of us."

"Yeah, but we _can_ talk it over with the people hosting the event and come up with music and choreography ourselves. It says they want us to wear the clothes they designed, so that won't be a problem." Hanayo added the second sentence as an afterthought, pointing to the small print halfway down the sheet of paper. Rin peered over Hanayo's shoulder, trying to get a better look at the sheet so she could read it herself.

"So what you're saying is: we decide everything for the rest of the group and expect them to go through with it without any warning beforehand?" Rin asked, taking the paper from the table once she confirmed that Maki had finished reading it. She glanced at Hanayo for confirmation.

"Well, when you put it that way, it doesn't make sense. I'll call Honoka-chan and see what she thinks." Rin relaxed as Hanayo left the clubroom, phone in hand. She thanked whatever force was overseeing their lives that Hanayo was willing to talk it over with the leader of the group before going ahead with the plan. Maki yawned, still seated at the table. Rin honestly thought Maki was more cat-like than she was; she could almost see the cat ears on her friend, not that she'd ever say that to her.

"So...what did Honoka say?" Maki asked as Hanayo stepped back into the room and shut the door behind her.

"She says to go forward with the plan. Agrees that it's good for publicity and all that, says she and the other second years will be back to do the event. Oh, but Rin-chan is in charge of it." Rin dropped the paper she was holding. It floated over the table and came to a landing right on top of Maki's lap. The redhead picked it up and put it back on the wooden surface.

"What?!"

"I think that's a good idea. Rin in charge." Maki said, shrugging as Rin turned her disbelieving gaze on her. "I'll tell the third years. Does anyone know where I can find them?"

"I believe Eri-chan's still in her room. Maybe check Nico-chan's house? I don't know where Nozomi-chan or Nico-chan could be." Maki nodded. Rin looked back and forth between the two people who were supposed to be her friends.

"At least tell me why Honoka-chan thinks I could be in charge this time! Wouldn't it be better if one of the third years were in charge?!" Hanayo looked at her with a deadpan expression.

"Eri-chan's practically a shut-in and we have no idea where the other two are or if they're even prepared to take a leadership role. Also Honoka-chan wants you to be leader 'cos I told her it was your idea. Well, good luck. Your first job should be to get the paperwork filled out." The brunette waved, then left the clubroom. Maki stood up and headed for the door.

"Wish me luck." Then the redhead was off, probably to find the third years and tell them of the new plan. Rin had no idea why she didn't use her phone to call them, because that would have been a lot simpler than visiting each of them at their homes. She looked at the paper that was still sitting innocuously on the clubroom table. As reluctant as she was to embrace the role, she picked up the paper to read it through one more time.

"Thank you very much!" She bowed deeply, not wanting the event holders to be put off like she thought they would be if she hadn't showed any respect. She excused herself, then leaned against the wall just outside the meeting room to calm herself down. Her pulse still raced under her fingers as she probed the vein in her arm. Rin sighed; she had just concluded talking to the people in charge of the fashion event. She already had written approval from the chairwoman allowing them to perform in the event, and now they were all set in terms of getting the stage time. "I wonder how the others are doing?" An idea came to her. As leader, she could go and check up on the progress Maki was making on her song, or see how the third years and Hanayo were doing in terms of creating the choreography. She checked her watch, and decided on making a surprise detour to see her friends.

"I'm sorry. The young mistress left quite early today and hasn't returned. Would you like to wait for her?" Rin shook her head; she was still cowed by the fact that Maki's household had servants that treated her with such respect simply because she was Maki's friend. She wondered what it would have been like if they hadn't been friends. Either way, she left the Nishikino family mansion-for that was the only thing she could call it-and wandered down the street a few blocks.

"I could go to see if Eri-chan's still a shut-in…" Rin looked at her surroundings; her mental map automatically making her a route to Eri's house. She was starting to feel like she was just bored and looking for someone to do something with, though she kept telling herself it was her duty as leader to make sure that everything was progressing smoothly. She decided to buy something on the way there to see if she could possibly get Eri out of her room through a bribe.

"You're a part of Muse, right?" Rin nodded, trying to remember the name of Eri's younger sister. She couldn't even remember if they met before or not. "Onee-chan left earlier, saying something about punishment if she didn't go to the meeting. Maybe you missed her?" It looked like the younger girl thought she was there to get Eri to a meeting. Perhaps that was where Maki went as well, but if that was the case, then Muse was holding a meeting without their temporary leader.

"Maybe. Anyway, here." She handed over the bag of taiyaki she had purchased from a street vendor. "Sorry for bothering you."

"No, it's fine!" The girl said hurriedly. "I'm always happy to meet Onee-chan's friends!"

"Arisa! You said we were going to study together!" Rin's chest hurt for some reason. The girl was turning away, shouting something in response to the complaint, but Rin couldn't hear what it was. Her friends were all meeting without telling her about it, and she didn't even know where.

"Sorry, Onee-chan's friend. I have to go now." The girl waved and closed the door. Or maybe she did know where they were meeting. There was only a few places all of them had met together outside of the school, though that meant she was going to do a lot of walking to figure out where they were. Her phone beeped with the sound of a new message.

'Meet me at the maid cafe. We have to talk.' It was from Hanayo, and the message contained no other signs to tell her why the brunette wanted to meet her. "Well...if you're there, then the rest of the group is also there." Relieved that she wouldn't have to go on a hunt through downtown to find her friends, Rin set off to the maid cafe where they had performed 'Wonder Zone'.

Though, as she neared the building, she wondered why they were meeting there instead of anywhere else in the city. It would have been a lot easier to find seating for all of them if they had gone to the burger joint, or simply stood around in the arcade or at the karaoke. Rin pushed the door to the cafe open, and walked in, glancing around for the rest of Muse. She found them near the back of the cafe, huddled around a small table. "So, what's up?" She asked, pulling up a chair and squeezing in between Hanayo and Maki. "Why all the secrecy about this meeting if you're going to call me to it anyway?"

"Force of habit. You know, the whole 'not telling Honoka until the last minute since she might not show up if she knew what we were talking about' thing." Nico shrugged. It had been a while since she had seen the black-haired senior-which was a period of around three days-and Rin was surprised to see that Nico looked significantly more tired than she had in the past. Nozomi and Eri, she realized, did not look all that much better. Well, she couldn't really tell with Nozomi, who was currently eating her way through a large parfait, but Eri had bags beneath her eyes. From what, Rin had no clue.

"We have a bit of an issue." Maki told her. "I'm sure you've gotten the thing settled with the event and the school head-" Rin nodded in confirmation. "-and I've been okay in writing the music we need. But the thing is, the second years are stuck on their trip."

"Honoka-chan just called me." Hanayo added on. "There's storms over in their area and it's not safe for them to fly back. They'll be stuck there for at least two more days until the storms blow over." She dropped her voice to a whisper. "Which is why Eri-chan's in that state right now."

"So you want me to call the whole thing off?" Rin asked, which was the only conclusion she could draw from the conversation.

"No, we're going through with it." Nico said. "The choreography's pretty much done, though I couldn't get much help from someone." She made a very pointed look at Eri, who was now staring blankly at the table. Rin might have misheard her but she thought the blonde said something among the lines of hating harems, which had nothing to do with their current conversation. "We just need to change it since only six of us will be performing now."

"Oh, and you're the center, Rin-chan." Nozomi added, finally contributing something to the conversation after saying nothing the entire time she was eating the parfait. Rin blinked.

"I thought I was the center already, since I was made temporary leader." She failed to understand why Hanayo looked disappointed until Maki explained it to her.

"Well, we kinda thought you would be against it since you didn't like standing out." Maki said slowly. "You know, since you were against being leader-I think-in the first place."

"I got used to the idea after a while. Show's still on?" The other girls nodded, with the exception of Eri, who was still staring blankly at the table. "All right. Show me what I have to do."

The fashion event live was pulled off without a hitch, and the second years returned two days afterwards, much to the relief of everyone in the group. Rin noticed Hanayo going into the other room, avoiding Muse's reunion party-or whatever it was they were doing, Rin wasn't too sure-and she followed. She closed the door behind her, shutting out the sounds of the rest of their group and walked over to Hanayo, standing next to the window.

"What?" Hanayo asked as Rin came to a stop next to her.

"Nothing. I can stand here if I want, can't I?" Hanayo shrugged and Rin chose to interpret it as being allowed to do whatever she wanted so she stayed right where she was. "You know, I think I know why you made me take leadership of this event." When she got Hanayo's attention, she continued. "You wanted me to get a bit more confidence in myself, right? Thanks."

"Yeah, whatever." Hanayo looked out the window once more, scowling. Rin smiled to herself and looked out at the orange sky created by the setting sun.

* * *

 **Rin: Kayo-chin's mean sometimes but she's actually really kind! :D**

 **Hanayo: Sure. (Though I actually meant to tease you by making you leader...it just didn't work out that way. ;-;)**

 **Rin: But the last part makes you sound like a tsundere! XD**

 **Hanayo: Okay, the rest of the stuff I can take but don't lump me in with the idiot over there. *points at Honoka***

 **Honoka: What did you say?! *Hanayo sticks her tongue out at her.* *Honoka is unable to do anything with Eri clinging to her.***

 **Eri: Honoka, I missed you. TAT**

 **(Don't worry, Eri! You and Honoka get to have lots of screentime from now on!)**

 **Eri: But what if Honoka hates me?! *still thinking about the last time***

 **Honoka: What?! There's no way I could-*shuts up, red-faced***

 **Eri: :0 *realizes what wasn't said* :D Honoka! I-**

 **Honoka: Shut up now. *still red-faced***


	6. Happy Halloween!

**Happy Halloween! (In the middle of February...)**

 **A-Rise actually has more of a role in this story than normal (by normal, I mean Tsubasa barging in for no real reason.)**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own Love Live. (or the KanColle that is mentioned in the second half of this chapter *spoiler warning*)**

* * *

The members of Muse were now preparing for their next live event, a Halloween event that was going to be held in Akihabara. Honoka was doing her best to refrain from yelling at the gathered girls in the clubroom, but her irritation was only growing and growing since none of them were even getting close to the upcoming event in their conversations.

"You know, the new amusement park that just opened up sent my mom's friends free tickets! She says I can have two of them, so do you want to go with me?"

"I'd be delighted to accompany you." Umi said graciously upon receiving the request from Kotori. The other second year smiled brightly. Honoka seriously wished they would get a room. At least this time, Kotori didn't invite her to go along with them. She had spent nearly all their time on the field trip feeling like a third wheel, which was not fun.

"Nico-chi should just give up and move in with me!" Nico was probably the only one who knew where Nozomi lived. The third year had simply never told anyone else how to find her house, though Honoka suspected that she had some sort of unusual circumstance surrounding her family. Not that she was curious enough to find out.

"Just because I've spent the last week at your house does not mean I should move in." Nico retorted. She had admitted to Honoka before that her mom made a habit of locking her out of the apartment, a practice that had become more frequent as of late. Honoka had noticed the two third years leaving the school together sometimes. Personally, she agreed with Nozomi. They should just hurry up and get together. And then get a room so she wouldn't have to see their lovey-dovey atmosphere every day the way she had to endure Kotori's and Umi's antics.

"Rin-chan, we're going to the zoo this weekend. They're collaborating with the animal shelter and hosting an adoption exhibit there." Hanayo's and Rin's relationship had improved since the latter was made temporary leader, though Honoka didn't think that much had changed.

"Are there cats? You know I'm allergic to cats." Judging by Hanayo's smirk, she knew full well there were cats and was pushing for their outing to the zoo just to see Rin's reaction. But as much as Rin complained about Hanayo teasing her, the first year never failed to go along with whatever Hanayo was dragging her into. Honoka wanted the two of them to get a room. Or at least, get out of her face when they were having one of their moments.

"Are you all prepared for our weekend trip to the beach?" Maki asked. The redhead was just as much a third wheel for Rin and Hanayo as Honoka was for Umi and Kotori. She seemed to be getting along just fine with the third wheel of their rival idol group however.

"Yes. I've packed everything for the trip. Is it just going to be the two of us?" At least Tsubasa was no longer being annoying with the personal space invasions she called flirting. That didn't stop the other idol leader from barging into their meetings whenever she felt like it. If it weren't for the other two members of A-Rise, Honoka wouldn't have know how to deal with Tsubasa. As it stood, however, she wanted them to keep their romance out of their discussions over important idol-related topics.

At least Anju and Erena were quiet. They sat next to their third-wheel leader, sipping tea and eating snacks. Honoka didn't know that much about them, besides the fact that they sometimes acted as Tsubasa's second parents-watching over and scolding their leader when they found it necessary. She did like them better than Tsubasa, mostly because they didn't show that much affection in public.

Eri was strangely subdued as well. When Honoka had first returned from the Okinawa trip with Umi, Kotori, and the rest of her class, Eri had welcomed her back eagerly. Almost too eagerly, Honoka thought, and Eri had cried about being hated by her. As if Honoka could hate her; she stole a glance at the blonde. Eri was just sitting there, watching the interactions between each of the couples with a strange attentiveness.

Finally, Honoka couldn't stand having so many off-topics and stood up. The girls slowly stopped talking as she made her way to the whiteboard that stood at the head of the table. Still avoiding meeting any of their gazes, she wrote 'Halloween Event' on the board so that none of them would have any confusion over what they were supposed to be talking about. "So, any ideas?"

"We're going in Halloween costume to match the event, so maybe Muse could do the same?" Anju suggested, an idea that Honoka found sensible. She jotted it down on the board.

"Anything else?" She put the question out there again, hoping that one of the actual members in Muse would give her an idea.

"We could try impersonating each other." Nozomi suggested. "The cards-" There was a scraping sound as the third year disappeared under the table after the cards she dropped. A few seconds of silence passed until she reappeared, her hair a bit messy, and pulled up to the table again. "The cards say that we should try changing ourselves to match with others."

* * *

"...remind me why we're going through with this again." Honoka muttered to herself as she swung her arms back and forth. She didn't like Umi's practice uniform. It felt too restricting, with the jacket and the long pants. If Umi wanted to cover her legs, why couldn't she choose tights?

"Because it was a good idea?" Kotori was wearing Eri's outfit. Honoka did not approve of that either; it was strange to see the outfit on someone else.

"But why do we have to impersonate each other right down to the mannerisms and actions?" Honoka muttered, peering through the small window in the door separating her from the rooftop. A-Rise was out there, cameras ready. They had come to the conclusion that this part of their activity would be filmed for the TV series, because it would be funny even if nothing came out of it. "Well, we're this far already. Let's do it."

Honoka pushed the door open and stepped out into the sunlight, prepared to thoroughly embarrass herself as Umi. Tsubasa gave her a thumbs up from behind the camera, indicating that they were already rolling. She breathed in, breathed out, and looked for her Kotori.

"U~mi~chan!" Nico, acting as Kotori, clung to her arm. She could tell that Nico disliked-maybe even hated-the contact probably as much as she did. "I was thinking of going to see a movie! Want to go?"

"Y-Yeah...sure…" Honoka managed to say, made uncomfortable by Nico's presence at her side. She looked around for something else to focus on.

"Tsubasa-san, are you sure you're all packed up for the trip?" Rin, doing her best to be Maki, blocked the camera completely with her body.

"Yes, I am. But, shouldn't you…" Tsubasa gestured aimlessly at the rest of Muse who were just now gathering on the rooftop. "Not stand in the way of the camera?" Rin blushed, muttered an apology, and rejoined the group.

"Believe in the power of the cards, Nico-chi!" Maki shouted, brandishing a hand filled with the tarot cards Nozomi treasured. "They say that you must move in soon or else suffer a terrible fate!"

"Maki-chan, that's not how the cards work!" Nozomi hissed, then dove as she tried to catch the cards that fell from the first year's hands. Even though she had just dropped them earlier in the clubroom, she was trying to save them from falling. Maybe because they could be blown away on the rooftop.

"No? Sorry, Nozomi." Maki knelt to pick up the dropped cards as well. Hanayo stood on the side, having missed her chance to join the conversation. "Let's try that again. Nico-chi!" She dramatically pointed at Hanayo.

"What do you want, Nozomi?" Hanayo scoffed, looking a bit relieved that she was drawn into the conversation. She stepped closer to the redhead pretending to be Nozomi.

"You already know what I want." Maki said, smiling slyly as she tilted Hanayo's face upwards with one hand. "I want you." Honoka averted her gaze, feeling embarrassed for the two of them. Her attention was captured by the increasingly tight pain on her arm, and she looked down to see Nico, pale-faced and expressionless, as the third year stared at the two first years. From behind the camera, Tsubasa had to be restrained by Erena as Anju pointedly turned off the camera to prevent any mature scenes from making it onto the show, if Maki and Hanayo did end up doing what they looked like they were about to do.

"Nozomi…" It was almost as if a spotlight had come down on the two first years holding each other. None of the other girls stepped forward; in fact, most of them seemed frozen with shock. Nozomi had dropped the tarot cards again, as pale as Nico was. Honoka found the fact that Rin wasn't particularly upset by having her two friends almost kissing right in front of her puzzling. Especially when she knew that one of them was Rin's crush.

"So...how was that?!" Maki and Hanayo asked as they split apart from the close proximity they had been holding each other at. They seemed stunned at the shocked silence the rest of the cast was still stuck in.

"I thought we were pretty in character…" Maki mumbled, sneaking glances at Tsubasa.

"Maybe we should have actually kissed?" Hanayo suggested. At this, the spell holding the girls in place released them.

"No way! I'm not allowing that to happen! You hear me?!" Tsubasa raged, unable to do much more than shout with Erena restraining her.

"Um...Nico-chan...it hurts…" Honoka said, finally getting Nico to release her arm. She rubbed it gratefully, relieved that she was able to get free from the vice-like grip she had been trapped in for the duration of the first year's little act.

"I'll make sure they don't do it again." Rin said, grabbing Hanayo's arm and dragging her as far as she possibly could away from Maki. The redhead followed them, only to be stopped by Nozomi. Honoka had never seen the third year be more intimidating than she had at that moment. She felt sorry for Maki as the first year was tugged towards the staircase. The two girls vanished, their footsteps fading down the steps until the sound had stopped altogether.

"Well...let's continue?" Kotori suggested after none of them moved for a couple of awkward seconds.

"Let's just...stay away from situations like that from now on." Nico muttered, barely keeping her composure after the first year's interpretation of her relationship with Nozomi.

Maki and Nozomi returned after a few minutes; the redhead looking visibly shaken. Honoka did not want to know what transpired between the two of them but was greatly relieved when Nozomi called the whole attempt to change themselves off. She would have stopped after another incident, if one had happened, but having Nozomi stop their pathetic attempts at mimicking each other was a lot easier. They went back to the clubroom to change out of the uniforms they had exchanged with Anju promising to only save the parts of their interactions that could be considered normal by most viewers.

* * *

"So, where are we going?" The rest of the group had dispersed to do whatever they had been planning to do earlier that day. Even though the event would happen in a few days, they wouldn't be able to practice much since seven of the nine members in Muse were using the weekend to have fun. Honoka was walking next to Eri, as the third year wanted to take her somewhere.

"Well, with Halloween coming up, I thought we could look at some costumes." Eri told her. The two were holding hands. Honoka was acutely aware of Eri's presence and warmth, though she was sure she had gotten used to holding hands with the older student.

"Kotori-chan said we would be using the costumes she made for the event though." Honoka reminded her, wondering if Eri had forgotten that fact. She also pondered upon whether Kotori would be able to make the costumes with the limited amount of time they had left, considering that the other second year was off with Umi, but decided not to worry about it too much. She had confidence in her friend, if nothing else.

"Yes, but we could still walk around and look. This store." Honoka had been paying attention to where they were walking and had been surprised when Eri took her towards a popular anime store frequented by the other otaku she had met online through her games.

"Eri-chan...this is a cosplay store…" She wasn't sure if Eri was actually aware of that or if the blonde was just trying to cater to what she thought Honoka wanted. Because she would be wrong if she thought Honoka liked being in the store. Honoka wasn't fond of visiting the actual stores, since they were crowded.

"I know. Excuse me!" Eri was waving to a store clerk. Honoka felt significantly ignored, especially when Eri let go of her hand to get the attention of the staff. "I'm Ayase Eri; I was here a few days ago. Do you still have the outfit I picked out last time?" She perked up; had she heard right that Eri had visited this store a few days prior? When had the blonde found the time to visit this sort of place? Or rather, why did she even want to? "Thank you very much." Eri turned back to Honoka and took her hand again, a plastic package in her other arm. "Come on, Honoka. I want you to try this on."

"Huh?" Eri guided her to the changing stalls near the back of the store and pushed her in along with the package.

"I'll stand watch out here." The blonde third year slid the cloth curtain shut, though Honoka could still faintly see her outline through it. She took a few seconds to examine the clothing in the package, but was unable to determine what anime it came from. Honoka opened the package and pulled the outfit out. She was gazing at an...archery club uniform? It looked oddly similar to the outfit she had seen Umi in before.

"Do I have to put this on?" She called out.

"Yes!" Eri responded enthusiastically. Honoka had no idea that Eri was so into cosplaying but changed obediently. She was relieved that the skirt was longer than originally thought, though she would have preferred it to be longer so she felt safer. "Are you done?"

"Yeah. Coming out now." Honoka gripped the edge of the curtain separating her from Eri and pulled. She felt embarrassed as Eri looked at her, judging the cosplay she was wearing.

"Hm...Yep. I was right. You look good as Kaga." Before Honoka could stop her, Eri had started walking away from the fitting room. "Wait in there. I'm getting a few accessories." Sullenly, Honoka tugged the curtain shut again and stood inside, waiting for Eri to return. She wanted to change back into her regular clothing and get out of the store, but she couldn't without Eri at her side. "I'm back, Honoka. Here." Eri handed the accessories over one by one through the gap at the side of the curtain, not doing more than sticking her hand in. Honoka looked over the new items she had received. A black cover-like thing, and a plate?

"Um...I don't know what to do with this. Eri-chan?" Now Eri poked her head in.

"I'll come in and help if you want." The blonde offered. Honoka nodded, allowing Eri to join her in the changing stall. Eri picked up the black cover thing. "This is a chest plate, or at least that's what I'm calling it. Um...excuse me." Honoka was about to ask her about the sudden politeness when Eri pressed the chestplate to her chest. Of course, that was where it belonged, but that fact didn't stop Honoka's face from heating up in embarrassment. "Sorry, so sorry. Just hold it there while I tie the back for you." Honoka nodded mutely, raising her hands to hold the thing in place. She could feel Eri tying something at her back, and was relieved when Eri finished. "This goes around your waist…" This time Eri tied it on while doing her best not to touch Honoka. Once she was done, Honoka stepped back as far as she could so Eri could examine how the outfit looked on her. "All we need now is the flight deck, bow, and quiver. Then it'll be complete. Okay, take everything off." The blonde excused herself and left the changing room for the sake of Honoka's privacy. Honoka took off the cosplay, pulling her own clothes back on, and took the items out to Eri.

"What anime is this Kaga from?" She asked as she lined up next to Eri.

"I'll tell you more later. Let me buy this first."

"What? I'll pay. It's for me to wear, right?"

"No way. I'm paying." Honoka gave up. She probably didn't have enough money on her anyway, and Eri looked like buying the cosplay for her was her intention for the detour they made.

"Anyway, she's from Kantai Collection." The name sounded familiar to her. The two were walking to Eri's house now, since Eri had something she wanted to show her. Honoka suspected it was another cosplay but she gave Eri the benefit of the doubt. She still refused to believe that Eri got into cosplaying when she barely even knew any anime.

"Oh, you mean the game?" Honoka remembered playing it briefly, but had soon gotten entranced by other RPGs and almost forgot about it. She winced at the thought of the ships she abandoned.

"It's been adapted as an anime. More popularity, I guess." Eri shrugged. They reached Eri's house and the blonde let Honoka in ahead of her. "My room's this way."

Honoka gaped at the sight of Eri's bedroom. She had only been inside once before, and the walls had been mostly bare at the time. Now it resembled her room a bit, with posters covering most of the space. In a corner, next to Eri's bed, was a full cosplay on its own stand. "Wow…"

"I've been a bit busy. Sorry about the mess." The 'mess' Eri referred to was a deck of cards scattered on the floor next to a sheet of what looked like instructions. The blonde picked it up and shoved the items unceremoniously into her desk drawer.

"So who's this? No wait. I've got this." Honoka jogged her memory. "Ah. Is this supposed to be an Abyssal?"

"Yeah. Wo class aircraft carrier." Eri looked proud of herself for some reason. "You're Kaga and I'm Wo class."

"Isn't she the enemy or something? Why'd you want to be her?" Honoka asked, though she wasn't that sure since it had been a while since she touched KanColle. She made a mental look to give the anime a shot.

"I have the idea that the Abyssals and the ship girls are just opposites of each other. They complement each other-like light and dark-so one can't exist without the other." Eri looked at her, a teasing smile on her face. "If you get what I mean."

* * *

 **Cosplay outfits can technically be worn as Halloween costumes, right? No? Well, I have no experience in it anyway.**

 **Eri: *winks***

 **Honoka: Stop that. I don't get what you mean anyway.**

 **Eri: :/ I'll take you trick-or-treating later.**

 **Honoka: We won't get much candy though. We're already high school students.**

 **Eri: You never know until you try. ;)**

 **Honoka: Seriously. Stop winking.**


	7. We Have to do Something!

Hanayo + Maki: Welcome to the...FIRST YEAR CORNER! *confetti and balloons appear from nowhere* *they cheer*

Rin: We'll be reading reviews and discussing the story's progress in this beginning part, though our conversations may get off topic because of…*glances at the other two* ...reasons.

Hanayo: It'll be just us, because the second years are busy on the council and the third years are preparing for graduation.

Maki: Though we might bring on special guests if they are requested!

Rin: Okay, so the first review, from _Maki is the boss_ -

Maki: Yeah! High five, whoever you are!

Rin: *under her breath* And we are already off topic… *continues* -says that he/she loves the first years. Thanks!

Hanayo: We love you too!

Rin: And the second review-

Maki: Hang on, why are you reading both reviews?

Hanayo: Yeah, Rin-chan. Don't hog it.

Rin: Oh, you guys can read it if you want.

Hanayo + Maki: Then I'll read it! *stare at each other* I said I would do it! Hey! Stop copying me! It's my turn!

Rin: Second review from _lychee-ran_ , yep, Honoka-chan is indeed clueless. So is Eri-chan though. And these two. *casually steps out of the way as Maki and Hanayo roll past in a fight* And this concludes the first First Year Corner. Please send us more reviews for the next time and enjoy the chapter!

* * *

 _Breathe in, breathe out. Stay cool. You're the (ex) student council president. Stay cool. Alright, I've got this._

"HOONNOOOKAAAAAA!"

"Eri, shut it!" Nico reacted immediately to her friend's cries in the most gentle way she could think of at the moment. Needless to say, the blonde did not calm down at all.

"HONOKA, WAKE UP! COME BACK TO ME!" Eri fell to her knees next to Honoka's limp body and took her right hand, the only part of Honoka she could lift up at the moment, crying pathetically.

 _~Flashback to five minutes before~_

"Honoka, are you okay? You don't look that good." Umi commented. Eri whipped around, earning herself a pained cry from Nozomi-her stretching partner-to see what Umi was talking about. Honoka smiled nervously at the blunette.

"I'm fine, Umi-chan. More importantly, we have to practice. Practice!"

"Okay, if you say so…" Umi didn't look convinced, but she let it slide. They were just about to finish their warm-up stretches and move on to actual dance practice, which all of the group needed desperately, so she wasn't going to stop everything for Honoka's sake. "Everyone, line up! Rehearsal time!"

Nozomi rubbed her arms, shooting a glare in Eri's direction, but the blonde was paying very little attention to anyone besides Honoka. She was still caught on Umi's earlier concern, and refused to believe that nothing was wrong with her girlfriend. (Honoka has not made any comment on whether or not they were girlfriends but until told otherwise, Eri was going to believe calling Honoka that was perfectly fine.) She studied Honoka's figure and expression as best she could, even though they were separated by three other members in the line up.

Their practice was going well, even with Eri's attention focused on Honoka, right up until she managed to smack Rin in the face after missing a beat. Then she tripped Maki, causing the red-head to reach out for any support at all. Her support ended being the bottom of Honoka's shirt and the ginger toppled down with the first year.

 _~End of Flashback~_

"You're only making things worse!" Nico grabbed the back of Eri's shirt and, with suprising strength for such a small body, tugged her away from Honoka. "Calm down!"

"NOOOOO! HONOKA!"

"I said shut it you useless lesbian!" For some reason, this particular statement cowed the third year into silence though she clearly wanted to continue shouting and crying over the fact that Honoka was not waking up. "Someone hold her; I'm not doing it."

"I will!" Rin took over restraining (hugging) Eri from Nico so that the (currently) more level-headed third year could rejoin the group huddled around Honoka.

"What should we do now?" Kotori fretted. She was worried about her friend but after seeing how freaking out did absolutely no good whatsoever, she needed directions on what to do next.

"Step aside everyone. I'm a doctor! (Though with no training or any knowledge besides the fact that both my parents work in a hospital!)"

"And I have some experience as well! (From reading a manga series at Honoka-chan's house and hanging out with Maki-chan a lot!)" The two first years posed dramatically before speaking in unison, "So let us take care of Honoka(-chan)!", and were subsequently ignored.

"I think it would be best to take her to the infirmary." Umi said. "Kotori, help me get her up." The brunette nodded. Between the two of them, they managed to pull and push at Honoka's limp form until she was propped between the two of them. "The rest of you continue with practice; Nico's in charge." She would have chosen Eri at any other point in time, but given the circumstance, it would be best to put a different third-year in the leadership position. There were no protests from the rest of Muse as the three second-years descended the steps into the main school building.

"Turns out she was just exhausted. She admitted to messing up her sleep schedule to play games. Hasn't been eating that much either." Umi reported. She and Kotori had stayed with Honoka until their friend woke up to confirm what the nurse had already told them. The dance practice was over and the remaining eight members were sitting in the club room. "She already went home, so don't start anything Eri." The phrase 'useless lesbian' resounded in the blonde's ears again, and she sulked at not being the one at Honoka's side when she woke up.

"We'll be going over to check on her later." Kotori said. "Make sure her parents know what happened. And, um, it's best if you don't come, Eri-chan." The girl dipped her head in an apologetic bow. Eri acknowledged the fact with a solemn nod. She would just have to wait until Honoka returned to school the next day so she could make sure for herself that her girlfriend was fine.

* * *

Honoka was fine the next morning. Her parents and Yukiho had scolded her for neglecting her health the previous day after Umi and Kotori showed up. She had hoped Eri would visit her as well, but when Umi informed her on how the blonde had reacted to her fainting, she agreed it would be better for her to rest up so Eri would not freak out over her again. She headed to school as normal, wondering how Eri would behave upon seeing her again.

But instead, she was greeted with a problem that had come to the student council after she went home the previous day. A number of first years, not counting the three in Muse, were turning in complaints of a strange girl who would show up in their classroom during the time clubs were meeting and just sit around. Umi, who was in charge of addressing the feedback from the students, counted around ten remarks on the stranger in total. Honoka agreed, it was their duty as student council members to take care of this stranger. Even though they hadn't been doing much council-related work before this…

"And so, we three will be taking care of this problem. The rest of you, please continue practicing as normal." Honoka said, addressing the rest of her friends. They had already changed for practice, leaving only her and the other two second years in the school uniforms. "Rin-chan, you'll be center for today."

"Understood nya!" Nico looked relieved at not being the one who would be in charge. Besides, Rin was the only one who had been turned into a center while the second years were on their field trip.

"Then we'll be going. We'll rejoin everyone once we've caught the trespasser." The nine girls left the room, three heading towards the first year classroom and the other six heading for the staircase. "But, Honoka, what do you plan to do with the person after we've caught her?"

"Probably turn her over to the chairwoman." Honoka shrugged. She hadn't put much thought into what they would do after catching the intruder, only on how they would go about catching whoever it was. "We have to do something. It wouldn't be good to just let someone wander around without permission. Especially at our school."

"More importantly, can you handle it, Honoka-chan? You fainted yesterday and all…"

"Yeah. I made sure to eat lots of bread during our breaks and lunch too!"

"There's such a thing as swinging between two extremes you know…" Umi muttered, though she was relieved on the inside that her friend was back to normal. She slid the door to the first year classroom open, which was mostly empty with most of the students either at their clubs or heading home. Only a few girls remained, and most were clustered together. "I do believe that that's our trespasser."

"I should have guessed. First year class and her appearance only afterschool." Honoka nodded towards the clustered girls at the front of the classroom. They were calmed by the mere presence of the three second years here to address the source of their unease. "My only question is how she manages to get here so quickly. Our schools are one train station apart...I think." Honoka parked herself in front of the seat the trespasser was sitting in. "Tsubasa-san."

"Honoka-san." The leader of A-Rise acknowledged her with a small smirk. "What brings you here?"

"Concerns of a stranger showing up in the class. You're scaring our first years, you know. And how did you get a Otonoki uniform." Behind her, Kotori was already texting Erena. All of the members of Muse had exchanged phone numbers with the shadow leader of A-Rise, mainly because Tsubasa kept pulling acts like the one she was currently being apprehended for. "Anyway, come with us."

"I don't want to-"

"You don't have a choice. Come." Umi's death glare convinced Tsubasa that arguing would not work in her favor and she reluctantly got up.

They walked Tsubasa to the front gates of the school, where Erena and Anju were waiting. The redhead was smiling; her girlfriend impassive. "Here's your leader."

"Sorry. We'll try to keep a tighter leash on her." Erena said, taking hold of one of Tsubasa's arms.

"I've got a pretty good idea of who let her borrow a uniform so I'll take care of things on my end." Honoka said. The two girls shook hands, ignoring the fact that Tsubasa was trying to escape. She couldn't anyway, and was dragged back off to UTX by her group member. "Well, that takes care of her. She shouldn't show up for a while at least."

* * *

 **No talk corner in the ending part.**

Eri: *in her bedroom* I only got a tiny bit of interaction with Honoka…*sulks, turns on game console* I wanted to talk to her this chapter but no...I wasn't allowed to. *starts game* Honoka, talk to me!

Honoka (Dating Sim Version): Eri-chan, I'm so happy to see you again today!

Eri: I am too, Honoka! Ah, so cute~

Honoka (Dating Sim Version): What should we do today?

Eri: I don't care, I'm with you!~

Honoka (actual): *knocks on door* Eri-chan, are you there? *opens door* Sorry we haven't been able to speak lately, so if you want...we can go somewhe- *sees Eri*

Eri: *freezes in trying to kiss the screen* U-Um...Honoka, I can explain…

~Somewhere Else~

Maki: So they found out.

Tsubasa: Yup.

Maki: Even though I lent you my spare uniform so you could blend in.

Tsubasa: Yup.

Maki: I told you staying in the classroom was a bad idea.

Tsubasa: Yup.

Maki: Are you going to listen to me from now on?

Tsubasa: Yup. So can you stop putting duct tape on me?

Maki: Nope.

Tsubasa: But they're going to leave maaarks!

Maki: That's not my fault.


	8. My Wish

Hanayo: Hello, everyone! Welcome to this chapter's First Year Corner! *confetti and sparkles* We've gots loads to talk about, particularly about the aftermath of the ending scene!

Maki: For the record, duct tape marks fade after a few minutes. Honestly, Tsubasa-san is such a-

Hanayo: *cuts her off* More importantly, today we have a guest! Rin-chan, if you will~

Rin: Was tying her to a chair and putting a bag over her head really necessary? *pushes said chair with person tied to it into the room* You even gagged her.

Hanayo: Yes. For the surprise reveal later.

Rin: Okay, let's just get started reading the reviews.

Maki: I got the first one! From _lychee-ran_...honestly, I felt like Tsubasa-san got what she deserved.

Hanayo: Of course you do.

Maki: I'm not sure what happened to Eri, though. We can't bring her or Honoka on to comment on their situation, so…

Rin: Maybe nothing happened. They're really good friends.

Hanayo: That's boring, Rin-chan! I think Honoka-chan would get mad over Eri-chan for playing a dating sim of her when she already has the real one.

Rin: Right…*changes the subject* Maki-chan, what's the next review?

Hanayo: Hold it, don't I get to read one?

Maki: Fine, Hanayo. You read.

Hanayo: Yes! From _Maki is the boss_ …*glances at Maki* You let me read this on purpose, didn't you?

Maki: *smug look* Yes.

Hanayo: *sighs* Mutual love is pretty nice. Everyone agrees that Honoka-chan and Eri-chan should stop being oblivious and just love each other already.

Rin: The review said nothing about them though. And please don't give Maki-chan or Kayo-chin any ideas. Dealing with both of them right now is hard enough as it is.

Hanayo: We love you too, Rin-chan.

Maki: Though not as much as I like annoying you.

Hanayo: Good point.

Rin: *sighs deeply* Next.

Maki: My turn again. From _Revengermajestyliberator_ , Tsubasa-san would have kept sneaking in anyway, so I figured it would be better to lend her my uniform. So she wouldn't be sticking out because of the UTX one.

Hanayo: She still got caught though.

Maki: Because she's an idiot sometimes. Oh, and this was the one that requested our special guest today! Give it up for-*whispers to Rin* What's her name again?

Rin: She's our classmate you know. Sakurauchi Riko-san.

Maki: Her!

Rin: *facepalms*

Hanayo: *dramatically pulls off bag and ungags the guest*

Riko: *wincing from the sudden light*

Maki: Welcome to First Year Corner, Riko! You'll be joining us for now until we see fit to release you!

Riko: E-Eh?

Hanayo: Oh, this is going to be so much fun~

Riko: W-Wait, what am I even doing here?!

Rin: I'm sorry, but please put up with my two friends for now.

 **Please wait for a few minutes. There are some technical difficulties.**

Maki + Hanayo: *on their hands and knees before Riko* We would like to offer our humblest apologies for treating you so roughly before.

Rin: Hang on, we jumped way too far from the area prior to the technical difficulty break! What even happened?!

Riko: Oh, nothing you have to worry about.

Hanayo: Okay, moving on to the last review. Riko-sa-chan! Please read it!

Rin: *has no clue what is going on anymore*

Riko: From _AshuraX_ , you could call her an overly attached friend. I, personally, would call her a perverted fox. *smiles innocently*

*awkward silence*

Rin: *coughs* So, um, Riko-san, do you have any last comments for our readers before we conclude today's First Year Corner?

Riko: Hm...yes. Please look forward to an adaptation of Love Live Sunshine in the form of this...Documentary...but under a different name. Also, I will be staying for next chapter's Corner before going back to Chika-chan.

Rin: 'I have to put up with another session of this? And to think I thought just dealing with Kayo-chin and Maki-chan was bad…' Well, um, please enjoy today's chapter.

 **I ship ChiRiko. That's all I have to say on this matter right now.**

 **Warning: This chapter contains a lot of NozoNico. And barely anything to do with the actual progression of the episode. Just saying.**

* * *

" _Mama, mama! Can I go to my friend's house for a sleepover on their birthday?!" Nozomi begged._

" _When is it?" The child pulled back, trying to remember what date that the birthday fell on._

" _Ah! It's on the 22nd! Of July! Please, mama?" She had rarely attended a birthday party, let alone one where she could spend an entire night with one of her friends._

" _Nozomi, I'm so, so sorry...we're moving on the 20th, remember?" Her mother wrapped the crestfallen girl in a tight hug._

" _Maybe I can still go? If we are close enough?" Nozomi asked hopefully, though she already knew that there was no way that they would be in the same city if her parents were moving. She already knew. But this was the longest time she had spent in one place. It was enough to make her hopeful. Her mother shook her head. "Oh…Mama, don't cry...I understand…" She felt like she was the one who should be crying. However, she had to be strong. For her mother. "I'll make new friends at the next place we go. Maybe I'm lucky and their birthday is close!"_

" _I'm sorry, Nozomi...I'm so sorry…"_

Nozomi sat up in her bed. She hadn't dreamed about her childhood in a long time. She hadn't made any close friends after that move, because that was when they really started to bounce from place to place. She never stayed anywhere longer than a month after that, and eventually had given up on making any real connections. That's why, when she was given the chance to stay in Tokyo for her high school years, she took it. Jumped at it, a grasp of permanence, even if it would fade in the future.

But there was no point in looking to her past anymore. She needed to get up and prepare for another day at school.

And found Nico rummaging through the kitchen cupboards, naked except for a towel, dripping water from her still wet hair. "Morning. I tried calling you from the shower but you didn't answer so I went looking for the shampoo on my own. Sorry about the wet floor."

"It's fine. I can dry it. Shampoo's in the washroom, actually, on the top shelf." Nico nodded and walked off. She knew Nozomi's apartment almost as well as her actual home. Nozomi grabbed some paper towels and started drying up the wet floors. It wouldn't do to risk getting mold by allowing the water to evaporate on its own.

Having Nico around was almost like having a roommate. The other third year was crashing at her apartment almost six days a week, due to her mother's interference. Although lately, Nozomi was inclined to believe Nico was using it as an excuse to stay over, and that her friend actually preferred the small apartment. Not that she was a freeloader; Nozomi collected rent in the form of delicious meals prepared every morning and night, along with a added lunch, if they had enough leftovers. Perhaps it was more like having a wife than a roommate, she mused. The floor was dry now. Nothing to do but wait until Nico came out of her shower.

* * *

"Okay, talk. What's been bothering you?" NIco liked to think of herself as being less oblivious than a certain blonde, especially regarding her close friends. It was hard to tell with Nozomi when she was feeling down, unusually hard compared to the other members (all of whom seemed to be wearing their feelings on their sleeves for everyone to see), but she was the one who Nozomi was closest to. Even though their portrayal for the screen had them usually avoiding each other…

"Nothing, Nico-chi." The shorter third year scowled. At least she had the tact to wait until after school to ask rather than bringing it up in front of the rest of the group, Nozomi admitted to herself.

"Liar. You really think you can fool me?"

"Okay, fine." Nozomi gave in. "I'm just worrying if performing a song we've already done before is a good idea."

"It's not like we can get Umi to crank out a new song in a few days. The last time, she nearly broke Maki-chan. That aside, what else?" Nico stared as the other third year fidgeted. "We're friends, Nozomi. I'll listen to anything you say."

"Just like how we have to listen to Eri-chi babble about her relationship with Honoka-chan?"

"Y-Yeah...though sometimes I don't want to…" Speaking of their friend, Honoka was once again not talking to Eri, though Nico could really care less about the reason behind it. It was probably Eri's fault anyway. Again. "The point is, if there's something wrong, I'll listen. All of Muse will." Nico paused, contemplating something. "Well, they'll listen, but I'm not sure how much will stick with them. Especially the first years."

"Hm…" Nozomi stared down at the cup of tea in her hands. "Nico-chi, I had a dream last night."

Nico listened as Nozomi told her about the dream, about her childhood, without interrupting her friend to ask any questions. Not that she didn't have any. It just felt like she was watching a small animal in the field, and if she made any sudden movements, it would flee. Nozomi would clam right back up and pretend nothing was wrong. "And, sometimes, I worry that being friends like this will end eventually… Nico-chi, is that weird?"

"No, it's perfectly normal. Everyone has those fears." Nico said reassuringly. Nozomi didn't look convinced and she racked her brain to come up with an idea to put an end to her friend's insecurities. "I have an idea. Let's call everyone here. Right now."

"Why? We haven't cleaned up or anything!"

"It's fine, Nozomi. Just relax and trust me." She reached in her pocket and pulled out her cellphone, calling the other seven girls into a single conference call. "Hey, everyone. Meet me as soon as you can." She gave them the address of Nozomi's apartment before hanging up. "Now they're on their way."

"Nico-chi, what are you thinking about doing once they get here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" NIco smirked. "I'm going to help you realize you're not alone anymore."

"And that's why we're going to write a song. Right now."

"I'd hate to be the one to say this, but that's, like, no explanation. At all." Maki said. "You just called us here, and we haven't even taken off our coats yet."

"A love song." Nico continued, as if she hadn't been interrupted at all. "One that we're going to perform in the prelimenaries."

"Didn't we agree that we'd be performing a song we already made? The performance is in one week, Nico-chan! We're up against the top idol groups in the area!" Honoka protested.

"That's why we're working on it together. Besides, having something new would get us more attention than a repeat performance." She could see it in their confused gazes. She had been the one who spoke against making a new song since it wasn't required like it was for their entry into the competition. As such, they had been practicing for a different song. Having it changed on them would be unfair, but she really felt like they could pull it off. And, yeah, it was mostly for Nozomi's sake but still.

"Nico is right. A new song would make us shine brighter than the groups that are performing songs that they've already done." Maybe Eri wasn't as useless as she had called her a couple days ago. The blonde may not have any clue why Nico was proposing a new song so suddenly, but she would support it regardless. Murmurs of agreement, reluctant agreement, came a few seconds after Eri's statement.

Somehow, they managed to get work done in the few short hours they had before the others had to head back to their own homes. This included design sketches for their costumes, the first verse of their song, and a bit of the choreography. It was pretty good work for them, considering the amount of times they argued with each other throughout the progress; each girl wanted to contribute her idea to the final product, and the ideas would clash. "Hey, Nozomi." She joined the third year on the balcony of her apartment, wrapped in a blanket. "You'll catch a cold if you stand out here without a blanket." She offered Nozomi the chance to join her under the blanket's warmth.

"That was the first time so many people had been in my apartment." Nozomi said as she looked up at the stars. "It's a lot noiser than I thought it would be." The offer of a warm blanket was ignored.

"Yeah, but you know them. Muse wouldn't be friends if we couldn't have friendly arguments every once in a while." The purple-haired girl continued to stare up at the sky. "Hey, did I ever tell you that I moved when I was little?" Now she got Nozomi's attention.

"No. None of us really talk about the past. We're too focused on the present."

"That's true." Nico chuckled. "When I was young, before my siblings were born, my family lived in a smaller city. I was an only child, so for one of my birthdays, my mom allowed me to invite my friends over for a birthday sleepover. At that time, the friend I wanted most to attend couldn't." She looked at Nozomi. "She had to move away. I remember it, because she apologized so much to me for not being able to come. You don't know my birthday, Nozomi."

"No. I don't. I didn't ask."

"It's July 22nd. I think this year you'd better celebrate it with me, because I won't take 'no' for an answer anymore." There only seemed to be one action fit for this moment. Nico took the blanket off of herself and draped it around Nozomi's shoulders, using it to pull the taller girl down to her level for a kiss. "Are you still worried that I'll leave you?"

* * *

Eri: *sobs* Even Nico gets better lines than me.

Nico: That's because you don't try hard enough. *sips tea*

Nozomi: *reliving the moment*

Eri: When do I get a kiss from Honoka?!

Nico: When you stop freaking out over every little thing that happens to her. And you should probably stay away from dating sims.

Eri: But then Honoka (game version) will get lonely!

Nico: This is why you never get anywhere.

Maki: By the way, does this mean you and Nozomi are officially going out?

Nico: ...when did you get here?

Maki: A while ago.

Nico: …

Maki: … :D

Nico: Get out.

Maki: Okay, I take that as a yes! Hanayo, Rin, I've found our topic for the next corner! *runs off*

Nico: What is she even talking about?

Eri: No clue.

Nico: Eri, you go home too. Stop hanging out here for no reason.

Eri: I have a reason! I can't get my relationship with Honoka to work!

Nico: That's not my problem! Go home!

 **One last question: Should the Love Live Movie be included in this work or should it be in its own separate fanfiction?**


	9. Melody of the Heart

Maki: Hey, Riko-chan, you switched schools from ours to Uranohoshi, right? Why so far away?

Riko: That's because *under her breath* Tokyo's police was catching on to me.

Hanayo: Can you repeat that? I didn't hear.

Riko: My parents had their job transferred to that town so I had to go with them.

Maki: *nods* Makes sense.

Rin: Are you both just going to ignore that-no, nevermind. Someone just start the corner.

Hanayo: I thought we already did. *cue Rin facepalming* Hello everyone and welcome to today's First Year Corner! Our topic for today is-

Maki: Nico-chan and Nozomi's planned wedding!

Rin: Hold it!

Maki: What.

Hanayo: Yeah, what do you want?

Rin: We're not going to talk about that. They're not even dating yet!

Maki: They're going out. We confirmed that last chapter. Look.

*flashback to Maki walking in on the third year ending card*

Hanayo: See?

Rin: Nico-chan didn't even answer you.

Maki: *sighs* Rin, sometimes you have to read between the lines.

Hanayo: But we'll go through the reviews if that's what you want.

Rin: Please do.

Hanayo: Okay, so the first one is from _lychee-ran_. It does seem that way, doesn't it? Though it could be a coincidence. I mean, there's no proof or anything.

Maki: I think the second part should be addressed by Riko-chan. *Hanayo nods*

Riko: Chika-chan has been friends with You-chan longer than I've known either of them. But I won't let You-chan win.

Hanayo: Ooh! Love competition!

Maki: Isn't that just Love Live? *they high-five*

Rin: That wasn't even a good pun! Move onto the next review!

Maki: Fiiinee. The second one is from _Maki is the boss_ -I still think it's a pretty cool name-

Hanayo: You would.

Maki: Yes. Hm...it says here that you moved because I wouldn't let you play the piano? Riko-chan?

Riko: Well, there's only one piano in the school, and you were using it most of the time. Though, not being able the piano would be enough to make me change schools to the beach.

Maki: That's true. And yeah, Honoka and Eri should totally follow NozoNico's style.

Hanayo: But they can't. Because they're both dense and oblivious. Eri-chan's probably more so than Honoka-chan at this point.

Maki: And I would like to see Tsubasa-san sometime soon. I haven't seen her since I put duct tape on her.

Rin: A-Rise has to practice too. For the preliminaries.

Maki: But they'll probably be in this chapter then. Because we're going against them.

Hanayo: Don't let your love for Tsubasa-san get in the way of our victory.

Maki: I won't. Muse is way more important to me than anything else now.

Rin: Maki-chan… *touched*

Maki: No, but I might sneak off to watch A-Rise's performance so don't freak out if I go missing.

Hanayo: Okay, I'll keep that in mind.

Rin: 'And...there goes that moment.' Your review makes sense. It's okay if you're not that good at a language yet; it takes time and practice to master anything. So thumbs up to you for trying your best!

Maki + Hanayo: *silence*

Rin: What?

Maki: And that will conclude today's First Year Corner!

Hanayo: See you next time!

Rin: Wait, I had a good thing going! *Maki and Hanayo leave* Don't ignore me! *Rin runs after them*

Riko: I'll be taking my leave as well, before I get caught. I'll see everyone in my own story soon, right? *innocent smile* *dark aura*

*the lights fade out on the First Year Corner*

 **(The Love Live Sunshine version of this won't come out until the anime does, and Riko's character in that may be different than the way she is depicted right now, depending on how the episodes go.)**

 **Warning: It shifts a lot between Honoka's and Eri's perspectives, so it may get a bit confusing.**

* * *

"Eri-chan, didn't I tell you that I would be fine doing the address myself?"

"Yes, but-"

"And didn't I tell you to go when Umi-chan and Kotori-chan left?"

"Y-Yes, but-"

"Now look outside. Do you think we'll be able to go through this?"

"Ye-no, but Honoka, I wanted to be with you!" Eri blurted out. She instantly regretted it, as the dozens of people that they were trapped with started staring and whispering. Most of them turned away after a few seconds, as if to give the two of them some privacy.

The two girls were trapped in their school's main building, along with the people that came to see the speech Honoka had to give due to her position as the student council president. Umi and Kotori, who normally accompanied her to every important council event, left earlier at Honoka's urging. Eri refused to leave, and now they were snowed in at the school. A snowstorm covered the city; any attempt to move now would be pointless. Except they had a stage to get to, or else Muse would automatically forfeit the competition and all their efforts to get there on their own would go to waste.

"...I'm glad you're here with me…" She stared at Honoka, not sure if those words had actually come out of the second year's mouth. They had been holding hands for a while-'for warmth', Honoka insisted-and the younger girl's grip tightened on her own gloved hand. "We have to get to the contest."

"Can you say that again?" Eri asked. Honoka glared at her like she was stupid.

"We have to get to the contest."

"No, what you said before."

"I-I'm glad you're h-here with me…" Honoka stammered, her face heating up. Eri's heart pounded in her chest.

"Okay, we're going to the stage!" She cheered, feeling new energy course through her body with Honoka's praise (?). "Let's go, Honoka!" Eri dragged Honoka by her arm to the exit.

"Wait!" But she paid it no attention, opening the door with her other hand. The cold wind that blew in through the entrance didn't feel cold to Eri at all. "I said wait, Eri-chan!" The door shut behind them, leaving the two girls standing out in the snow. "Jeez...we should contact everyone and see where they are. I hope they all made it to the stage in time…" Honoka slipped her hand out of Eri's to better use her phone.

"Hey, everyone, where are you right now?" Honoka asked, having contacted every other member besides Eri on a single conference call.

" _Kayo-chin and I got snowed in. We stopped at a convenience store to get some snacks. We're making our way slowly now."_

" _Rin-chan, it was your fault."_

" _Yes, yes."_ So Hanayo and Rin were on their way to the stage, if a bit slower than they normally would have been.

" _I'm currently in traffic. The roads are blocked off too."_ Maki did say something about having someone drive her to the preliminary stage seeing how the weather had been recently. " _I don't know how long it will be before I get there."_

" _Nozomi and I are already at the changing room. We'll be waiting."_ NIco reported in.

" _Let me guess. You spent the night at her house again. Did you kiss?"_ Maki asked impudently.

" _I want to hear too!"_ The first year trouble-making duo were at it again.

" _No. Is this really something you should be asking when we have a performance to put on?!"_

" _Yes. I'm stuck and I'm bored. Did you take it to the next stage?"_ There was a gasp, followed by the sound of two members leaving the conference call. Honoka momentarily took her phone away from her ear to confirm that Nozomi and Nico had been the ones to disconnect. " _Does that mean they did?"_

" _I'm pretty sure it means that you should not poke your nose into their business, Maki-chan."_ Rin scolded over the phone.

" _But everyone pokes their nose into my relationship."_

"That's because Tsubasa-san keeps trespassing into our school. We can't have that, Maki-chan." Honoka said, breaking up the conversation before the two started arguing. "Kotori-chan, Umi-chan, where are you at?"

" _We left like you told us to, but we're stuck on the train. We're pretty close to the station we're supposed to be at though, so we'll be good as soon as the train moves."_

"Okay, everyone be careful."

" _Hey, Maki-chan, look over here! To your right!"_

" _Oh, Hanayo, Rin! Hi!"_

" _Maki-chan, you might as well get out of the car and walk with us. From the look of the cars ahead of you, you won't be going anywhere soon."_

" _Hm...okay."_ Maki disconnected from the conference call, and Honoka hung up on the rest of the girls still in the call now that she knew where they were for the most part.

"Now we can go." Eri felt much better once they were holding hands again. She understood the need for Honoka to check up on the other members, but this was one of the few times the two of them were alone together. Due to that, this felt like a special moment to her. "But how do we?" They were pretty far from the stage, and their path was completely covered in snow.

"We just run forward, like we always do." Eri suggested. That was pretty much how Muse did things lately: moving forward without really planning and taking whatever consequences came from their actions.

"Sounds good. 'We don't want to regret anything', right?"

"'Our future is just ahead', literally." With the lyrics resounding in their minds, the two teenagers faced the snowstorm and entered willingly into its fury.

It worked for the first few blocks. They ran together under a single umbrella, holding hands so that they would not get separated. Eri, being taller, held their protection from the falling snow in a position slightly in front of them so their sprint wouldn't get them blinded.

Running through snow that almost reached halfway to their knees was something Honoka had never thought she would be doing, and she never wanted to do it ever again. Then again, she did a lot of things in the past school year that she never thought she would do before. And those experiences culminated in having her run to a stage with Eri, who she still had mixed feelings for, in the middle of a snowstorm. No time for working through her inner emotions now though; she had to concentrate on not tripping over things hidden by the snow.

When they finally reached the stage, both of them were sweating despite the extreme cold. Eri pulled at Honoka, knowing that as tired as she was, if they stayed too long outside now they would catch a cold. The ginger was obviously tired from their run all the way from school, but she was keeping herself up through sheer willpower. Getting up the stairs to the changing room where the rest of their group was waiting would be too much for Honoka, Eri thought. "Alright, here we go." She knelt before Honoka, keeping her back to the second year.

"What are you doing, Eri-chan?" Honoka asked, shivering already.

"Get on. I'm carrying you up."

"No, you don't have to. I can climb- Eri-chan!" Eri was stubborn and refused to take no for an answer. She grabbed Honoka, lifting her up. If she wasn't going to get on her back, then Eri would simply carry her bridal style. Honoka wrapped her arms around Eri's neck, most likely out of a wish to stay anchored to a surface but Eri entertained the idea of Honoka actually wanting to stay close to her.

They got through their performance without much problem, even though the song they did was the one they wrote just a week ago and spent less than a week's time practicing for. But they wouldn't get the results from it for a couple of days. Honoka watched as her friends split up at the end of their preliminary competition. Hanayo and Rin were heading home; they didn't want to risk getting caught in another snowstorm. Maki had gone somewhere with Tsubasa. She only knew this because Erena and Anju came by to ask if she had seen their wandering leader. Honoka was more than content to say that she had no clue. Nozomi and Nico were off to a restaurant in a sort-of pre-celebration of their victory that had not even been announced yet. At least that was what they said. Kotori and Umi were going to see a late-night movie together, since they were now officially on winter break from school now. So only she and Eri were still at the stage. With the lights still on, the stage was breathtaking. She could hardly believe that she and her friends had danced on it.

"Honoka, let's go somewhere." Eri said, rousing Honoka from her thoughts.

"Where?" She asked, in a happy enough mood to accompany the blonde.

"Anywhere. Just not outside in the cold."

"Want to come to my house then? We could play some games."

"That sounds nice. I'll come." Now that the pressure of making it to the stage was gone, Honoka started thinking about Eri again. It was just the two of them, walking to her house in the almost darkness. The blonde was nice, she decided, seeing as Eri so willingly got into gaming and anime just because she liked it. Going even so far to buy cosplay for her...Eri was really something else. And she didn't really hate the fact that Eri had a dating sim character designed to look like her, even though she had acted like she did when she first saw it. The love song they had just sang and danced together…

"I blame the song."

"Huh?" Eri looked confused as Honoka hurried ahead of her and turned to look at her. "What's wrong, Honoka?"

"What do you think of me?" She asked, only making Eri more confused.

"W-Well, you're a good friend…" What did Honoka want from her? Eri didn't understand why Honoka suddenly looked so down. "Honoka?"

"Ah, it's irritating!" Honoka suddenly shouted, turning to the side and kicking at a lump of snow. "It's irritating me, I hate it!"

"Honoka, what are you-" She fell silent as the second year looked at her with a pained expression. "Um…"

"I like you! But I don't know if it's in a friendly way or not and that irritates me! It's all that song's fault! And yours too!" Honoka shouted, advancing on Eri. She backed up, more confused than frightened, until she couldn't move because her back was to a wall. "Hey, Eri-chan, tell me. What do you think of me?"

"I love you!" Once again, Eri simply blurted out what was on her mind out of panic. It took her a few seconds to realize that she answered Honoka's question with a confession. This was not how she had planned on revealing it to the second year. Then again, she had never planned on it. "I-I mean, I love your-you are, um…" She didn't have to finish trying to think about what she was going to say; Honoka collapsed against her.

"...Is it okay if we stay like this for a while? I don't think I can move…" Eri would have preferred continuing on their way to Honoka's house as planned at any other time, but she understood. She didn't want anyone else seeing her red face either.

* * *

Nozomi: Congratulations, Eri-chi!

Eri: Ehehe~ *sheepish* I didn't expect Honoka to bring it up so suddenly.

Nico: You're the older one. You should have been the one to bring it up. In fact, you should have done it a long time ago!

Eri: B-But-

Nozomi: Now, now, Nico-chi. At least she managed to do it eventually.

Nico: Hmph. The main focus is on her and Honoka and it took them this long to even get their relationship official.

Eri: I was nervous, okay?!

Maki: I think you should have kissed.

Nico: For the last time, Maki-chan, get out.

Maki: I was just guiding someone here. Don't shoot the guide. *leaves*

Honoka: Um...I was looking for Eri-chan…

Eri: H-Honoka!

*both are nervous and not looking at each other*

Nico: Just go somewhere already, you two.

Eri: Honoka, do-do you want to go to a cafe?

Honoka: *nods*

*both leave*

Nico: Honestly, it's like we're their parents. (-.-)

Nozomi: Because we were so invested in Eri-chi's half of the relationship?

Nico: More like she kept crying to us every time something happened, no matter how minor.

Nozomi: But now Eri-chi's grown up. It's nice to see her finally leave the nest.

Nico: Nozomi.

Nozomi: Yes, Nico-chi?

Nico: We are literally the same age as her.

Nozomi: I know. :3


	10. μ's

Hanayo: Today's First Year Corner's topic is…

Maki: *holds up a sign*

Hanayo: Couples! *confetti and balloons*

Maki: That's right. Honoka and Eri finally admitted their love for each other-though everyone already knew-in the last chapter.

Hanayo: Just in time for the new year too! I haven't seen much of them since the preliminaries ended.

Maki: I've seen them around. They're going on lots of dates now that we're free until the final competition.

Rin: *has been in the background the entire time, cleaning up the confetti*

Hanayo: Good for them! Now let's start the reviews portion of our corner! Rin-chan, you first!

Rin: Huh? Okay, um...the first one is from _lychee-ran_. Oh, there are congratulations for Honoka-chan and Eri-chan on finally becoming a couple. They're not here right now, but we'll pass on the message when we see them.

Maki: If we even see them.

Rin: We made plans to get together for the first temple visit of the year, remember?

Maki: Oh yeah…

Rin: Regarding Riko-san...she left last chapter, correct? Maki-chan, Kayo-chin, you both had more interaction with her. What do you think on this question?

Hanayo: Hm...yeah, I would have to say she is one. Behind that cute and innocent look…

Maki: I'd rather not talk about it.

Rin: ...moving on then. Nozomi-chan and Nico-chan make a pretty good pair. They live together, don't they?

Hanayo: Not sure. Nico-chan still goes home sometimes, and it's not like Nozomi-chan's apartment has two beds or anything.

Maki: You don't need two beds for two people to sleep in. *Hanayo and Rin stare at her* What?!

Rin: We are not prying any further into their relationship. Here, Kayo-chin, next review.

Hanayo: From _Revengermajestyliberator_. We are awesome aren't we? High five for you! Oh, Maki-chan, can you go get us some drinks? *Maki shrugs and leaves* Rin-chan, come here for a sec.

Rin: What? *huddles close to Hanayo*

Hanayo: Look at this part of the review. Should we do it?

Rin: *reads* I don't know...Maki-chan's our friend. We shouldn't intrude on her privacy.

Hanayo: But it'll be fun, wouldn't it? Besides, it's not like no one's interrupted her and Tsubasa-san before.

Rin: Okay, I guess…

Hanayo: We'll follow Maki-chan around for a while and see how many times she goes to find Tsubasa-san. I think it'll be the other way around though.

Maki: Can one of you open the door? My hands are full. *Hanayo lets Maki back in* Here. Water.

Hanayo: Thank you. That was the last review, by the way.

Maki: So I didn't get to read one today. Oh well. I wanted to ask both of you something.

Rin: What is it? 'Did she overhear us talking?'

Maki: Are you two going out?

Hanayo: No. *confused look* What gave you that impression?

Maki: You two are always together, that's why. Like, I see you sometimes while I'm walking around the town.

Rin: We're childhood friends. Isn't it obvious that we'd be together more often?

Hanayo: Yeah, I don't think there's really anything beyond friendship between us.

Maki: Is that so? My mistake then.

*awkward silence*

Hanayo: And that ends today's First Year Corner! *she can't look at Rin properly*

Rin: Y-Yeah, so look forward to next time! *can't look at Hanayo properly*

Maki: *looks between the two* 'I'm so going to try and get them together next corner.'

* * *

Today would be the first day in nearly a week that she had seen any of the members of Muse besides Eri. Honoka hummed a small tune as she walked to where she would be meeting Umi and Kotori; all nine of them were making their first temple visit at the shrine where they used to do morning practice at. She would have been meeting up with Eri, but the third years were all volunteering at the shrine to assist with the many people that would be gathering. "Ah! Good morning, Umi-chan, Kotori-chan!"

"Honoka, it's been a while."

"We should go somewhere together once in a while! Like the time the three of us went on the field trip together!" Honoka scratched the back of her head, laughing.

"Maybe after we finish at Love Live." She suggested. They had won out against A-Rise at the preliminaries, though Honoka was still not quite sure how they managed to out-idol a popular school idol group. Especially since the song they performed had only been completed a few days before the contest took place.

"Speaking of Love Live…" Umi started as the three of them climbed the long staircase at the base of the shrine. "...do you know what we're going to do for it? For example, if we're going to perform a new song?"

"I guess so. New songs seem to go better with the audience than performing ones they've already heard." Honoka kept walking, thinking about what they should do. "Hey, maybe we can take another trip to one of Maki-chan's villas. I'll ask her."

"You guys are late!" Hanayo called down to the second years as they finally reached the end of their long journey (to the top of the stairs). "We've been here for a long time now."

"Ten minutes." Rin clarified, giving Honoka an apologetic shrug. Honoka nodded, but didn't bother saying anything. The orange-haired first year already had enough trouble trying to reign in her more troublesome peers. Instead, she turned to Maki and proposed her earlier idea.

"I'll have to ask, but I think I should be able to get one. Mountains or beach?"

"Going to the beach would be too cold right now. Try and get one in the mountains." Maki nodded to show she understood before going to rejoin the other first years.

"Ara, everyone's already here." Nozomi said. She was holding a broom, even though there was really nothing for her to sweep up. The trees around the shrine were still bare, and all the snow had been shoveled away or melted. Perhaps she was just holding it to give the impression of having to do something while not doing anything at all.

"Hello, Nozomi-chan." Honoka greeted. "Um...where's-"

"Eri-chi?" The third year finished her sentence with a smug smile. Honoka nodded, not quite as self-conscious as she had been the first time she had gone looking for the blonde third year only to be confronted by Nozomi. "She's somewhere. Both Nico-chi and her are running between the storage and the stands." Honoka looked at Umi and Kotori; she had promised that she would make a wish with them during their first temple visit.

"Go ahead, Honoka. We'll wait." Umi said, smiling.

"But don't take too long, 'kay? You can always see her afterwards too!" Kotori reminded her.

"I know that! I'll be back in a bit, thanks!" She ran off in search of Eri.

* * *

Eri huffed as she struggled to keep the heavy box in her arms. Nico looked at her with a bit of disdain, easily carrying her own box. "These are the last ones and then we can take a break. Don't slack off."

"I'm not." Eri grumbled, taking a few careful steps towards Nico. She nearly lost her grip on the box as she moved and ended up putting the box on the ground to get a better hold on it. "I don't understand how you can do it so easily."

"I have three younger siblings that each weigh more than this box. You don't notice the weight after a while. Come on, Eri." She grunted her acknowledgement, straightening up with her box again.

"Where is Nozomi?" She asked, trying to keep her mind from answering the complaints from her arms.

"Sweeping the grounds. I told her we could handle the stock ourselves."

"Why? Isn't more people better when moving things? There isn't anything to sweep anyway…"

"Because I don't want her straining her arms."

"And it's fine for me to do it?" Eri asked, dumbfounded.

"You're different." Nico responded dryly. "Look, if you had to choose between Honoka and Kotori to help you move boxes, you'd probably ask Kotori to help even though she's the weaker of the two. Am I right?" Eri looked for a retort that she would choose whoever could be of help to her rather than purposely avoid picking her girlfriend. But when she pictured it, she couldn't see herself asking Honoka to help. "It's almost the same thing." Eri watched as Nico turned her head to the side, her attention caught by something Eri couldn't see yet. "Except…" Nico smiled gently. "...it doesn't work if the other person purposely seeks you out, does it?"

"Nico-chan! Hello! Even after officially dating Honoka for a week, her heart still pounded every time she heard the second year's voice.

"You're not really supposed to be here, Honoka. This is off-limits to workers only." Nico chided, but she still had the gentle smile on her face.

"I know, but, um, is Eri-chan here? Nozomi-chan said you two were working together…" The third year stepped aside, letting Honoka in to see Eri. "Ah, Eri-chan! You look so cute in the shrine maiden outfit! Can I take a picture?" The cell phone was out before she could even respond to Honoka's question.

"Sure, I guess." Eri said, putting down her box.

"Well, I'll be going then. Don't forget your job, Eri." Nico walked off to the stands, whistling. Honoka took a few pictures from several angles, making Eri more self-conscious with each snap of the camera shutter. Then the second year retreated to a few steps away, shoving her phone into the pocket of her winter jacket.

"Didn't you say that we weren't going to meet today?" Not that she was upset at seeing Honoka. She had been worrying about not being able to see Honoka for a day, even though they were now girlfriends. Nico had scolded her a lot for that, and smacked her over the head when she brought up the fact that Nico and Nozomi were practically living together. It seemed to be a touchy subject for Nico, what with the first year duo poking at it every once in a while. At any rate, she was quite happy to meet with Honoka at the shrine.

"I wasn't, but I saw Nozomi-chan, and she told me where you were so I went looking...Eri-chan, happy new year!" Honoka's smile was so bright that Eri felt like she was being embraced in the light of the sun. "Please take care of me this year too!"

"I definitely will! No one will come close to you unless I allow them!" Eri shouted. It was the first things that came to her mind after recovering from Honoka's smile.

"You don't have to go that far, Eri-chan! Oh, are you taking this to the stands? I'll help." What did she have to do that Honoka was going to help her with? Oh, right. The box. She nodded and bent down to retrieve it, but Honoka had already picked it up. "I think it was this way." The ginger walked off with ease, leaving Eri dumbfounded. How were Nico and Honoka both able to carry those boxes so easily? "Come on, Eri-chan! If we hurry, maybe you can join the rest of us to ring the bell!"

* * *

Honoka clapped her hands together after shaking the sacred rope. To her left and her right, her friends also brought their hands together to make their wishes.

"What did everyone wish for?" She asked after they had all finished.

"To continue making more songs for Muse." Umi said, smiling.

"To have lots of fun with everyone!" Kotori chirped.

"To make new memories with everyone." Nozomi said, looking satisfied.

"To continue as we are." Rin said.

"To prank Rin-chan more often!" Hanayo added, earning herself a bit of chastisement from Rin.

"To have better luck." Eri said, showing Honoka the fortune she had pulled earlier. It was 'bad luck'. "Though I guess I could just tie it up."

"To find out more about everyone's relationship statuses." Maki looked around at the rest of Muse staring at her. "What? Everyone else is paired up here, so why wouldn't I be interested?"

"To win Love Live, obviously." Nico said, finishing up.

"Those are all pretty good wishes-" Honoka tried to gloss over two of the wishes that weren't as wholesome as the rest. "-but I think everyone should wish for what Nico-chan did." In a line, the nine girls put their hands together again and prayed for their victory in the upcoming Love Live finals. It would be their biggest moment, to prove that they could make their make-believe lives as school idols into a reality.

* * *

The first years and the second years bid the third years farewell after they finished making their wish to the shrine. The younger girls were heading home to celebrate the new year with their family, but the third years were still on duty as volunteers. The work wasn't hard, mainly just carrying out stock when it ran out at the stand, so the three of them got to take breaks every once in a while.

"Eri, here." Nico passed Eri a water bottle, which the blonde accepted gratefully. Nico sat down on the patio next to her; they were shielded from the public view at the side of the shrine. "Hey, have you discussed it with Honoka yet? About what's going to happen to Muse once we graduate?"

"Not yet. It seems like everyone's forgotten that we're going to graduate this year, after Love Live." Eri looked at her water, not sure if she still wanted the refreshment anymore. "It just never seemed like the right time to bring it up, not after we just won."

"We're going to have to talk with them, you know. Whether or not we win Love Live, the TV series will be stopped after the three of us graduate. That's what we agreed." Nico wasn't talking about an agreement made between the three third years. The agreement she spoke of was the one they as a group had made with the TV station airing their show. The series would be ended once they graduated, regardless of whether Muse would continue. "The younger girls should get to decide, but at the very least, you should talk to Honoka about it. She's going to get hit the hardest."

"What makes you say that?" Eri asked, though she realized it was a stupid question the moment she said it.

"You'll be going off to college. You, me, and Nozomi. We're fine because we have each other, and everyone else has their own relationships. But Honoka's going to be left behind when you graduate, Eri. Just talk to her when you can, okay?" Nico awkwardly patted Eri on the back before heading back out to the front of the shrine to see if she was needed. Eri frowned at her water bottle, not sure how to break the news to Honoka, or when to even do it. Her cell phone buzzed, telling her she had gotten a new message.

' _We're going to one of Maki-chan's villas in three days, so be prepared! :D'_ Eri realized that she didn't know when Honoka had become so open to traveling. She remembered just a few months ago, she had to trick Honoka into coming out so that they could go on a training camp. Now the second year was the one doing the inviting.

' _Okay.'_ Eri paused, her thumb hovering over the 'send' button. She deleted what she typed and sent a different text. ' _Honoka, I need to talk to you. Sleepover at my place tonight?'_ Some things were better done sooner rather than later. Nico was right, the younger students of their group would need to make a decision before Love Live arrived.

' _Sounds good! \\(^o^)/ I'll be there around six then!'_ Eri sighed and put her cell phone away, standing up to lose herself in her work. She still didn't know how she was going to tell Honoka.

* * *

Honoka: Hello, Eri-chan! :D

Eri: Hi, Honoka. Come in.

Honoka: *goes directly to Eri's room* Hey, let's play a game or something. Did you get any new ones?

Eri: There's one that just recently got adapted to the new system. I haven't actually started yet-it's multiplayer.

Honoka: So we can play it together! Let's get started!

*an hour passes*

Eri: Honoka, look out! Behind you! *button-mashing*

Honoka: I see him, I see him. *pulls off a combo* Do you have any snacks, Eri-chan? I'm kinda getting hungry.

Eri: I'll go get some. *leaves the room*

Honoka: *looks around, waiting* Oh yeah, why did Eri want me to come over again? Hm...oh! She said she had to talk to me about something. I'll ask her when she comes back.


	11. That Which We Decided

Rin: I'm not sure this is a good idea.

Hanayo: What are you talking about?

Rin: I feel like I'm intruding on Maki-chan's privacy.

Hanayo: It's fine. We're in disguise. **(the disguise that Nico used at the beginning of the anime)** Besides, we've been doing it for three days now. She hasn't noticed.

Rin: Stilll…

Hanayo: Just read the reviews. I'll keep an eye on them.

Rin: ...okay…. *resigned* First...from _Revengermajestyliberator_. We're currently watching Maki-chan, so our First Year Corner got canceled. Also sometimes author-san writes things that are different from what she originally planned.

Hanayo: Tsubasa-san is a hassle to handle so she gets kept outside the storyline most of the time.

Rin: Uh-huh. We're still not sure what she does with Tsubasa-san, but they've been visiting lots of restaurants and stores the last few days.

Hanayo: Rin-chan, they're moving! *both follow* Okay...they've stopped at the cafe.

Rin: Can we go inside and get a drink too?

Hanayo: It is kind of hot...Okay. *they go into the cafe and get a table on the other side of a wall from Maki and Tsubasa*

Rin: Ugh...we're really close…

Hanayo: *to the waitress* I'd like a iced tea please. Rin-chan, what do you want?

Rin: A cola. *Hanayo repeats the order* Um...the next review is from _TsUNaMyWaVe_. We have a game based on us right?

Hanayo: Yep. I've been playing on it a lot recently. Want to see my cards?

Rin: Sure.

Hanayo: Look! *shows Rin her phone* I won this Rin-chan from an event, and this Rin-chan came from a 50 love gem draw. Oh, and this is my favorite Rin-chan! A UR Rin-chan!

Rin: *embarrassed* I-I get it, Kayo-chin. Y-You can put your phone away now…

Hanayo: If you say so. Also, I don't think Eri-chan will mess up now. Honoka-chan likes her way too much to push her aside any more. It's probably more likely that Eri-chan will beat herself up than anything else.

Rin: Eri-chan does have a habit of losing her head when she's with Honoka-chan.

Hanayo: She'll probably get in trouble with Nico-chan again if she cries to Nozomi-chan.

Maki: That sounds like Eri. *the three of them laugh*

Hanayo: Wait...

Rin: Huh…?

Hanayo + Rin: Maki-chan?!

Maki: *smirk* You didn't think I would notice you? I've seen you following me all week.

Hanayo: W-W-What are you talking about?

Rin: 'We're dooomed.'

Maki: So I've had Tsubasa-san take me to restaurants and shops rather than our usual. Now...what kind of punishment should you both get for stalking me all this time?

Hanayo: S-Somebody…

Rin: HELP US! DX

Tsubasa: *at the other table* 'I wonder when we can go to the movies or the amusement park again?'

* * *

"Eh?" Honoka had to put her glass down out of worry that she might drop it. "Eri-chan, what are you talking about?"

"Time doesn't stand still, even if we want it to. Honoka, you have to make the decision for Muse's future." Eri's gaze was painfully stern, nothing like the gentle blue that Honoka had grown accustomed to over the past week. She dropped her own gaze. Even if she was told to make a decision, she didn't know what to do! The fact that Muse would one day be separated seemed like such a distant problem that it had slipped her mind entirely. "Discuss it with the others if you want, but a decision must be made."

"Um...what do you and the other third years want?" Honoka asked hesitantly. They were the oldest and their words had the most weight on any major decision, even if Honoka made most of them. She had always taken their advice-no matter how little she got-and applied it to their next action.

"Our wants don't matter, Honoka. This decision belongs to you, Umi, Kotori, and the first years." Eri sighed, crossing her arms. "You need to make a choice soon." Honoka bit her lip, feeling like Eri was behaving like the strict student council president she had portrayed in the first season.

"And that's why I called you out to a meeting today." Honoka concluded, taking a long sip from her soda. The six of them were seated around a table at a maid cafe in Akihabara. Having finished explaining, Honoka looked each of the other girls in the eye. "So...what do you think?"

* * *

"I thought we were going shopping for the trip." Maki answered honestly, even though her answer had nothing to do with what Honoka wanted from her. Hanayo and Rin nodded in agreement with their friend. Then again, it wasn't like she had told them what the meeting was for, just to meet at the maid cafe they filmed at one time before.

"Well, we could continue the show, even if they leave." Umi said. "We have enough fans to keep go-"

"That won't work, Umi-chan!" Kotori slammed her hands onto the table, startling the girls seated around it and getting a few looks from nearby tables. "We can't do that!"

"E-Eh? Why not, Kotori?" Umi tugged on Kotori's shirt, glancing around the cafe. "Also, sit down please!" With a huff of annoyance, the brunette sat down again.

"Muse is nine members! Any less than that won't do!" As if irritated with Umi's inability to comprehend that, Kotori proceeded to stare pointedly in the other direction.

"But we did Muse with only six before…" Hanayo pointed out, referring to the time when the second years had gone on a school organized field trip.

"That's different." Honoka said, finding that she agreed with Kotori's point. "We didn't leave the group completely. Eri-chan and the others, they're going to graduate. At that point, they can't be school idols anymore. So I guess the real question is not whether we'll continue making a show. It's whether or not we're going to go pro."

"Like how A-Rise wants to go?" Maki asked.

"When did you find that out?" Rin cut in before Honoka could give the red-haired first year a response. "Oh, was it through Tsubasa-san?"

"I spend much more time with A-Rise than you know. Oh wait, you already know that. You were following me when I found that out!" Honoka tried calm down Maki before she got too out-of-control.

"If we want to continue including them in Muse activities, we will have to dedicate to becoming professional idols. But I'm sure that everyone is in agreement about that matter." Umi shook her head, and after a few seconds, the other girls followed suit. They all had their own plans for the future, ones that didn't necessarily include becoming idols. "So we won't even consider going pro."

"But we could still continue the show." Umi pressed, still failing to understand why Kotori was against it.

"We can't." The bluenette looked confused. Before she could ask another question, Honoka continued. "It has nothing to do with the fans or whether they'd like the show. I can't continue a show without the three of them." Umi finally understood and fell silent. "Everyone agree? Then we tell them our decision, at the end of the trip."

* * *

"Nico, did I do something wrong by telling Honoka?" Eri traced a heart shape in the snow with her finger, then slashed through it, creating a heart that was split in half.

"No. You had to tell her at some point." She wiped the shape away with her other hand, leaving the snow a blank surface once again. "Besides, it's their decision. One of them had to start thinking about it. She's the most reliable out of all them."

"I think Umi-chan's more reliable."

"You're not helping Nozomi." Nico sounded expasperated. Eri wrote the first character of Honoka's name in the smooth snow and sighed. "And when are you going to help us?! The first years are kicking our butts!" The third years were holding a snowball fight against the first years, and they were losing since Eri was just squatting at the back of their fort, drawing in the snow.

"Maki-chan's building a snowman though." Nozomi pointed out helpfully as she lobbed another snowball. It fell short of the of the opposing fort by a few feet.

"Again. Not helping." Nico pitched her own snowball at the other fort; it sailed right over the snow wall as the target (Rin) ducked behind it. "I get that you're upset that Honoka's been ignoring you-" Eri felt the stab of an invisible knife at Nico's words. "-but hasn't she been working hard, helping in whatever way she could to speed up the song progress? Maki-chan's finished, and Kotori's almost done. It's the last day here. Just be patient." Nozomi tapped Nico's shoulder, looking at the other fort with wide-eyes. "Not now, Nozomi. I'm trying to get Eri to help."

"Nico-chi, I really think you should look!" Nozomi said, an urgent tone in her voice.

"Okay, okay. What is it?" She turned just in time to have a partially finished snowman knock her to the ground. "Nozomi."

"Yes, Nico-chi?"

"Next time...just tell me to move or something." Nico got slowly to her feet, appearing calm despite the fact that the other team had just heaved an entire snowman at her face. It didn't stay that way for long. "YOU IDIOTS! THAT COULD SERIOUSLY HURT SOMEONE!"

"But you're fine, so it's all good, right?!" Hanayo retorted, packing another snowball to throw. Maki had set to work on yet another snowman after her first had been used for ammunition. Nico growled, turned to Eri and dragged her to the middle of their snow fort.

"You're helping. Make a snowman, or just a giant snowball for me to chuck at them! Nozomi, keep doing what you're doing!"

"You mean, throwing so lightly that the balls don't even reach the other fort?" Nozomi asked, seeking confirmation.

"Yes! I mean-no-what the hell have you even been doing?" The purple-haired third year shrugged.

"I don't want to hurt them." Nozomi tossed a ball lightly in the direction of the fort and it fell halfway on its journey.

"Am I the only one taking it seriously on our side?!" Nico shouted, irritated with her predicament. Eri started scraping snow together into a small mound, picked it up, and started shaping it into a snowball. With accuracy that came close to Umi's deadly aim, Eri hit Hanayo in the chest when the first year wasn't expecting it. "...okay, nevermind. Eri's finally into it. Nozomi, you make the giant snowball."

"Okay, Nico-chi!" Nozomi cheerfully retreated to the back of their snow fort to start working. Eri packed another snowball, eyeing the first years to see which she should hit. She would put faith in Nico's encouragement (if it could be called that) and play until Honoka came back to her.

They ended up losing to the first years, though Eri still couldn't figure out what the critera was for being victorious even after the snowball fight had ended. She assumed they had lost because Nico was completely tired out from yelling at the first years through the entire fight, though it wasn't really clear. She didn't care enough to confront the younger girls on their arbitrary victory and just accepted their loss. Now all six of them were heading to a much needed bath.

"Oh. Umi, Kotori, you're done now?" The two second years gave a thumbs-up. They had beaten the rest of the girls to the outdoor bath, but it was big enough for all nine of them to fit if they wanted to. "Where's Honoka?" She didn't see the last second year.

"Huh? Everyone's here-ah!" In typical Honoka fashion, she tripped over something in her hurry to get in the warm bath. Nico and Nozomi parted to let the second year fall into the water, splashing those who hadn't gotten in yet. They were splashed again as Honoka broke through the surface, her ginger hair dripping wet from the unplanned submergence. "Uh...sorry?"

They seemed subdued, the first and second years, as the nine of them sat in the bath together. Especially the first years, since they were normally so energetic and talkative. They kept glancing at Honoka for some reason, so Nico finally broke the silence. "Have you come to a decision?"

"Y-Yeah...I-I mean, we-have." Honoka took a deep breath, then looked up. Her gaze was filled with determination. "After you leave-"

"Muse will disband!" The other five girls joined in alongside Honoka. Eri blinked; not a single trace of hesitation could be seen in any of them. They had made their decision, just like she and the other third years had wanted.

"Are you sure?" But she couldn't stop herself from asking the question. "You can continue even without us there."

"That's not true!" Honoka retorted immediately. "I-Muse only exists-for me that is-when all of us are there! That's why! I won't stay in a Muse when any of you are gone!"

"Muse has changed all of us. So it belongs to all of us." Maki chimed in, taking over for Honoka who seemed to have run out of things to say for the time being. "And to no one else but us because we put in the work to make Muse what it is right now. Remember when we first started out? I know that if anyone had told me that I'd be composing music for this group, I wouldn't believe them!" She had been such a spoiled child back then that no one would have forseen her current role in Muse.

"And then I roped you into my pranks on Rin-chan! We would pull really elaborate ones, or just drag her on our missions!" Hanayo added. "But I wouldn't have talked to you if it wasn't for Muse bringing us together...and Honoka-chan's manga!"

"Think of all the trouble you both put me through!" Rin complained loudly, though she was smiling at both of her friends. "We got kicked out of at least three places, and Maki-chan's family had to handle a lawsuit because of us! Not to say that they weren't fun though…"

"We had lots of fun too, didn't we?" Kotori piped up. "I could really feel everyone's hearts coming together when we worked together on songs or choreography~ It was so much fun!"

"Enough that I didn't want it to end. Ever." Umi picked up where Kotori had stopped. "I truly wanted to keep spending my free time with all of you, following whatever silly plans came up."

"So...they became our memories of Muse. All of our time together has culminated in our chance to win Love Live. And afterwards, Muse will disband so our time together isn't tainted by a want to remain famous." Honoka struggled to smile with the tears that were pouring down her face. "That is our decision. To keep Muse as it always has been."

* * *

Nico: They really are good kids.

Nozomi: What makes you say that all of a sudden, Nico-chi?

Nico: Nothing really. I just didn't expect them to have that sort of reasoning for disbandment. But I guess it makes sense.

Nozomi: You don't want to leave them either.

Nico: Heh. You can see right through me.

Nozomi: *smiles* I'm your girlfriend, after all.

Nico: So...you. Moping back there. What's up this time?

Eri: I just realized...we did absolutely no practice on the choreography or singing while we were on the trip. And Love Live is coming up. Will we really be okay?

Nico: ...wow. It's not a Honoka-related question for once.

Eri: I heard that.

Nico: That's why I said it. I'm sure we'll be fine though.

Nozomi: As seniors, we have to trust in our juniors to make their decisions, don't we?

Eri: I suppose so…

Nozomi: So don't worry about it.

Nico: Let's just focus on making it the best memory for Muse.

Eri: I guess you're right.

Nico: Great. Now that that's out of the way, could you leave? You're kinda intruding on our personal time.

Eri: R-Right! Sorry!


	12. Last Live

Honoka: Rin-chan told me to come here and take over for her...but what exactly are we supposed to do?

Nozomi: Maki-chan didn't tell me anything either.

Eri: …*was brought along by Honoka*

Honoka: Um...there's a sign that says 'First Year Corner'...*looking around*

Nozomi: And there are letters on the table...maybe we read them and respond?

Honoka: I don't have any better ideas, so let's go with that. Eri-chan, you first.

Eri: O-Okay! Um...from _Revengermajestyliberator_...did something happen with the three of them last time?

Nozomi: Apparently Rin-chan and Hanayo-chan were following Maki-chan around while she went on dates. Maki-chan didn't appreciate it.

Eri: Really? I couldn't tell. They get along pretty well, even now, so I didn't know they were fighting.

Honoka: I didn't know either.

Nozomi: I think she forgave them. After she tagged along on their dates two days in a row.

Eri: Is that so? *reads the next part* I really wasn't expecting that sort of reason for disbandment from them.

Nozomi: Uh-huh, it was really cute of them to think that way. I'll miss all of them when we leave.

Honoka: Hang on! You guys haven't left yet! Don't talk like that!

Nozomi: Okay, okay. *pats Honoka on the head* (Eri: …*a little jealous*) We won't talk about that anymore. Ahem, the next review is from _TsUNaMyWaVe_. I don't mind having Eri-chi around. It's Nico-chi who gets upset.

Eri: You two are my only friends in our grade level! How could I not spend time with you?!

Nozomi: *ignores her* But she hasn't come over as often anymore.

Honoka: Do I read the last one? (Nozomi: Yes.) Okay...from _Maki is the boss_ -I bet she really likes this person-oh, it's about the Maki-Rinpana incident again.

Eri: Rinpana?

Honoka: Yeah. The ship name for Rin-chan and Hanayo-chan. By the way, ours is HonoEri. I don't suggest looking it up.

Eri: Why not?

Nozomi: Because most of the time, the person with their name in front is the top.

Eri: Top? What does that mean?

Nozomi: It means she leads in their-

Honoka: Okay, that's enough Nozomi-chan!

Nozomi: I'm just trying to teach Eri-chi. How far have you two gone anyway?

Eri: How far? (Honoka: O/A/O) We went all the way to Maki's villa...I think that's the farthest, yeah.

Nozomi: I meant-*whispers in Eri's ear*

Eri: N-N-Nozomi?! This is a PG-13 story! That's too far!

Nozomi: :3 I highly doubt you went that far. So tell me, and the audience.

Honoka: *about to pass out from embarrassment*

Eri: F-Fine… (Honoka: *is gone*) ...we kissed that one time...and that's...it.

Nozomi: ...what? That's boring.

Eri: Honoka's sensitive, okay?! She won't hold hands with me in public now because it embarrasses her when people stare at us!

Nozomi: And that's all the stuff we have to do here! *gets up to leave*

Eri: Don't ignore me!

Nozomi: Bye, everyone! *leaves*

Eri: *chasing after her* Don't ignore meeeee!

* * *

"All of our senpai are at the Love Live drawing, right?" Hanayo asked aloud. The three first years were lounging in the club room, waiting for the rest of the club to return. "Let's do something before they get back."

"...Like what?" Rin didn't like most of Hanayo's plans, especially if she didn't specify what it was that they were going to do.

"Oh, I know! How about this?" Maki explained her idea to the other two. When she had finished, Rin was smiling and Hanayo was pouting.

"I like that. Let's do it."

"It's not that funny, but if both of you want to...I guess I have no choice." The brunette gave in gracefully. "It's for our senpais after all, so I can't complain." Rin and Maki high-fived each other over their victory.

"So we ended up with going last. Ugh...I'm getting stage fright just thinking about it." Honoka grumbled as she led the way back to Otonokizaka Academy to get in one last practice in.

"You've been on TV for the last year and you've been performing live for the same amount of time." Nico scoffed. "How can you get stage fright now?"

"But it's different! The stage is going to be huge, and-and something!" Unable to come up with a better response than that, Honoka settled for sulking.

"But you'd think the first years would have come with us." Nozomi commented, changing the topic away from the thought of performing the next day. "Or at least, come running in late."

"I'm going to have to talk to them later." Umi said, taking the lead from Honoka since the ginger looked confused as which way to go. "All the other groups had their members present and ours were missing three."

"Don't go too hard on them." A cell phone beeped, and Nozomi checked her pocket. "Hey, Maki-chan sent me a message. Should I read it out loud?" Umi nodded, so the third year began to read the text. "She says, 'What's taking you so long? Hurry up and come back so we can practice!'. She also attached a picture of herself with Rin-chan and Hanayo-chan on the roof."

"She's supposed to be with us." Nico muttered, clearly irritated with the first year's audacity to claim they were late when she and the other first years had completely forgotten to show up for the drawing.

"And they're not even here!" Their practice area on the roof was completely empty of any presence other than their own. "I'm calling them!" Nico furiously speed-dialed Rin and put the call on to speaker so they could all hear and respond.

"Hello Nico-chan!" Rin's greeting was cheerful, unlike the mood that Nico was in. But before she could get started on her tirade about how irresponsible they were, Rin spoke hurriedly. "Um, we were there-at the roof, I mean-but we thought we'd get some drinks! So we'll be there shortly-with drinks! Just start without us, bye!" And the first year hung up immediately after she was finished. Nico stared at her cell phone, dumbfounded.

"They're on the roof!" Rin hissed to Maki. The red-head nodded and sped up her explanation to Honoka's parents, the last family they had visited. Hanayo was already on her way back towards the school with the other supplies, so Rin sent a quick text her way. Less than a minute later, Hanayo texted back her acknowledgement, along with a request to actually get drinks.

"Okay, thanks!" Maki dove into Honoka's house, sprinting up the stairs two at a time to reach the second year's room. She grabbed a random bag-prayed that Honoka wouldn't get mad at her later-and opened up the closet. She started looking through Honoka's clothes, looking for pajamas. Selecting a pair at random, she then opened the forbidden drawer. "It's okay...we're both girls…"

"Maki-chan, we have to hurry!" Rin shouted urgently from the front walk, where she was waiting.

"Okay, I'm coming!" Her eyes squeezed shut, she grabbed one of the objects and shoved it into the bag. Slinging it onto her back, she shut all the drawers, slammed the closet door shut, and hurtled back down the stairs. "Sorry for the intrusion!" She yelled at Honoka's parents as she passed by the kitchen on her way out of the house.

Rin picked up the wagon handle as Maki threw the bag on top of the heap of bags they already had. "Let's go!"

"It took you long enough to get drinks." Umi said, giving the three panting first years a look as they finally joined the rest of the group. They said nothing as they put the cold cans on the towel along with the bottles of water that the other members had brought. "Stretch and then get in position. I'll lecture you later."

"Yes~"

"Ugh...Umi-chan's lectures are really something…" Rin complained as she walked along with the other two first years. As punishment for not showing up at the drawing and for not being ready to practice when the rest of the group returned, they had been ordered to go down to the field and run three laps while the second and third years watched from the roof. Now they were returning to the rooftop to most likely get one final lecture from Umi before being forgiven for their misdeed.

"Hey, but at least they stayed on the roof. Our surprise is ruined if any of them goes back to the club room without us." Maki pointed out. "Plus, we kinda deserved it."

"I agree with deserving it for not going to the drawing, but I hope they feel guilty after seeing what we put together for them." Hanayo grumbled, wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her arm.

"Good practice everyone!" Maki marched to the front of the group, earning her looks from the third years and second years. "Now let's go change so we can rest up for the competition tomorrow!"

"She's acting weirder than normal." Nico whispered to Nozomi. The redheaded first year was now attempting to push Umi towards the staircase, even though she was getting scolded in the process.

"Maybe it's nerves?" Nozomi suggested, watching as Rin and Hanayo also got into the act. The three first years pulled and pushed at the rest of the group until they were all moving.

"Come on!" Hanayo called out, skipping ahead of the group.

"Or maybe they're just in a hurry to leave so we'd forget their absence quicker." Eri said, attempting and failing to take Honoka's hand as they walked down the hallway towards the clubroom. The three first years were far ahead of the group by now, and they entered the clubroom first. "Looks like it."

"Whatever, as long as they can perform on stage tomorrow." Honoka said, reaching for the door. As she opened it, the first years pulled the poppers they were holding and strips of paper sprung at her face.

"Surprise!" They cheered, looking quite pleased with themselves. On the table were decorations along with plenty of take-out food. Bottles of soda were lined up on the far end, where Nico normally sat for their meetings. "And that's not all!" Rin eagerly brought them over to the door leading to the room they used for trying on outfits.

There were two rows of futons, with one on the end. Each had its own bag sitting neatly on top. "W-What?" Honoka managed to stammer, so confused was she at the sudden shift in mood.

"You see, we did miss the drawing-not on purpose though!" Hanayo added the last part hurriedly as Umi glared at her. "But we were actually gathering all of this when we were late to the practice!"

"We got permission from the Headmistress too!" Rin showed them the approval form with the official stamp from Kotori's mother.

"And we went to all your houses to get everything ready!" Maki finished up.

"...you did all that...so we could have a sleepover at school? Why?" Nozomi asked, voicing the question that the rest of the girls had at being presented with such an elaborate surprise.

"That was the last time we were going to practice-" Rin started.

"-and we probably weren't going to spend much time together anymore-" Hanayo continued.

"-so we thought, why not just spend the night together?" Maki finished up. "Well, are you surprised?!"

"The thought is nice…" Honoka barely surpressed a smile as the three girls high-fived each other. "But you still should have come to the drawing. And be on time for practice. Well...I suppose we could let it slide this time."

"Let's party!"

The next morning, Honoka was the first to wake up. She left the rest of her friends sleeping, and went into the other room to get something to drink. The mess that was the aftermath of their little party was still there. After a moment's hesitation, she started to clean it up, putting the trash into a large plastic bag and covering what could be taken home as leftovers. There was a knock on their clubroom door. "Come in!" She called out, though she immediately regretted it as she was in her pajamas.

"Good morning, Honoka-san!" It was some of her classmates, though she couldn't remember their names right then and there. They didn't seem that bothered by walking in on one of their school's idols in her pajamas, cleaning up food. "Um, we know that Muse is busy preparing for the live today-" 'We're not though.' Honoka thought, knowing that her friends slept even now in the next room. "-but we really wanted to show you this! And this and this!" A score was put into her hands, along with the lyrics and several pages denoting choreography. Then they motioned for Honoka to follow them outside the room, where she was met with a rack with nine outfits on it. "If they ask for an encore, it'd be really nice if you could perform this!"

"But they probably won't let us. We're the last to go up, so the judging comes right afterwards. Thanks, though. I really appreciate it." Honoka tried to explain that to them without sounding like she was ungrateful, but she hadn't talked all that much to her classmates. It was usually Umi and Kotori that talked to them whenever they were being addressed in their class. She waved to them as they left, then stared at the large clothing rack. "...How am I supposed to get this inside?"

Waking the rest of her friends proved to be relatively difficult, as most of them usually woke up to alarms and not someone yelling at them. Nico, the only one who had gotten up with Honoka yelling at her, started slapping the ones that were trying to drown out Honoka's noise with their pillows. An hour later saw them heading to the stage where the competition was to be held. There was no final speech to be given when their turn came. They all knew their steps (hopefully) and the lyrics (probably) and what they were going to do once their turn was over (most definitely, she hoped).

And yet, it seemed to pass by in a blur to her. It was their turn, then they were dancing, then they announced their disbandment and went backstage, then they were called out for an encore. Out of all the groups participating, theirs was the only one that was allowed to perform an encore song following the main performance. The final pose, and it was all over.

'...Did...did we do it? ...Did we...win…?'

* * *

Hanayo: We're in the end credits this time. I hope whoever you picked did the First Year Corner well.

Rin: I asked Honoka-chan to take over for me. *gasps* I forgot to tell her what she was supposed to do! I hope she figured it out.

Maki: I just told Nozomi to go to the room. I'm sure she figured out what to do.

Hanayo: That being said, the party was a blast!

Rin: Yep! It was a lot of work putting it together though! We almost didn't get to use the clubroom because of our late request.

Maki: We're just lucky that Kotori's mom is the headmistress, otherwise we would have definitely gotten rejected.

Hanayo: The live was fun too! Everyone was smiling and cheering us on! We even got to do an encore!

Maki: Speaking of which, I wonder where Honoka got the outfits from, and how she managed to prepare the song. I didn't know she could read music.

Rin: I don't think she can...Only Umi-chan and you know how, right?

Hanayo: Well...whatever she did, everyone looked like they were enjoying it. I'm more surprised that no one messed up on their parts for the encore.

Maki: The one thing we're good at is doing things with very little practice or prior thought. I'm sure Honoka kept that in mind when she asked us to perform it for the encore.

Rin: That, or maybe she had faith in Muse's ability.

Hanayo: ...Nah. We just winged it like we normally do. By the way, Maki-chan, did Tsubasa-san come to our performance?

Maki: You should take a look at her blog. *shows it on her phone* *nothing but selfies of Tsubasa getting crushed by the crowd* I'd say she was there.

Rin: She looks like she's having fun?

Hanayo: *checks time* We have to end this soon. And preferably not on an awkward note.

Maki: I dunno. This is our first time being the end credit rather than being in the front of the chapter. What normally happens here?

Hanayo: Nozomi-chan and Nico-chan having their relationship and Eri-chan getting in their way until she gets kicked out?

Maki: Okay, cool. I got this. *gets up and leaves*

Rin: ...what?

Hanayo: I don't get it…

*awkward silence*


	13. Come True! Everyone's Dreams!

Hanayo: And we're back for the final First Year Corner!

Rin: Don't say that, Kayo-chin! It may not be the last one yet!

Maki: But this is the final episode right?

Rin: That's true but…

Hanayo: Let's just get started on the reviews! Our replacements didn't do a good job last time!

Rin: R-Right...the first one is from _TsUNaMyWaVe_ …

Hanayo: You better bet we're cute! We're the youngest! By the way, Maki-chan, why did you leave us in the credits?

Maki: Wasn't it obvious? You said that the endings were mostly Nico-chan and Nozomi being cute together and then Eri getting in the way until she got kicked out right?

Hanayo: Yeah, so?

Maki: I made it easier by leaving at the beginning.

Rin: *gets it* *embarrassed*

Hanayo: I still don't get it.

Maki: That's fine. I have a pretty nice view of Rin's red face right now.

Hanayo: Wha-?! Rin-chan, why are you red? Don't tell me! You have a fever?! *touches forehead*

Rin: *steam escapes her head*

Hanayo: Ah...I broke her…

Maki: Next review is from _Revengermajestyliberator_. Yep, we're back and in full action at the beginning of the chapter again!

Hanayo: Except for Rin-chan. I think she'll rest for a while…

Maki: But we're not Makirinpana. It's just Maki and then in this setting, we're not all dating each other.

Hanayo: Nozomi-chan used those pairing names before too, right? *finally understood why Maki left* Oh….

Maki: *smug look*

Hanayo: Well then. Next review. From _lychee-ran_. Maki-chan is an idiot.

Maki: Excuse me?

Hanayo: You heard me. There's no point in trying to mimic the third years if you leave before we get to kick you out! That takes the fun out of it!

Maki: I was trying to be helpful!

Hanayo: And all that happened was that Rin-chan broke on us!

Maki: And you're saying that's my fault?! You're the one who didn't understand why I left in the first place and had to explain!

Hanayo: That's because you were so vague about it!

Rin: *recovered* P-Please stop fighting…

*Technical Difficulties*

Maki: *has a bandage on her cheek* So they're calling Honoka and Eri hetares now?

Hanayo: *has a bandage on her forehead* Sure seems that way.

Rin: *putting away first aid kit* Hetare means 'useless' doesn't it?

Maki: They are useless though. Especially at their own relationship.

Hanayo: Nothing ever gets done between them.

Maki: Just like with you and Rin? :D

Hanayo: Oi, you want another fight?

Maki: Bring it! :D

Rin: Here we go again...

* * *

"Oh, I have an idea on how to come up with ideas for writing the graduation speech!"

"Honoka-chan...that's kind of not the point…"

"Let's just hear her out, Kotori."

"How about we just stop staring at the blank paper and play some games instead?"

"Ho-no-ka?"

"Okay, I'm sorry…" Honoka returned her attention to the blank page in front of her. She had been staring at it, pencil in hand, for the past half an hour and her attention span was threatening to make her give up. Kotori and Umi were in the room with her, seeing as they were also on the student council, and they were having the same mental block she was.

The competition was over, as was the majority of the business aspect of their show. They could afford to take it easy-at least, the members that were not on the student council could. Honoka knew that the third years were getting prepared for their graduation ceremony-though she could really care less what the first years were doing-and her job was to prepare a proper speech to recite as the student council president. But even though her mind was buzzing with ideas, nothing made it onto the paper. "Maybe this is why I'm bad at writing~" She laughed at herself before hanging her head in pathetic recognition of her shortcomings.

Umi and Kotori went home for the night, leaving Honoka alone with the still white sheet of paper sitting on her desk. She played a game for a few minutes, but the fact that the paper was there kept bothering her until she had to put her controller down and return to her desk. Sitting there, she soon became bored. The cycle repeated itself a few times until she decided to alleviate her boredom by calling someone.

"Shh…" Rin waved at Maki as she held her ringing cell phone in her hand. The redhead scowled at being stopped mid-play, but she took her hands off the piano. Rin answered the phone. "Hello, Honoka-chan! What's up? Oh, I'm staying at Maki-chan's house tonight. Uh-huh, Kayo-chin was supposed to be with us. She has a fever though, so she's staying home. Maki-chan's here, yeah." Maki turned back to her piano and resumed playing, irritated with waiting for the phone call to finish. She was testing a new composition, and really didn't appreciate being stopped halfway through the progress, even if it was one of her friends. Rin should have just taken the call outside, in her mind. "Ah, that's just Maki-chan playing the piano. Okay, I'll put it on speaker."

"Maki-chan!" Honoka's voice rang out from the cell phone in Rin's hand. "What's that song you're playing? I haven't heard it before!"

"It's just something I'm testing right now. Like, right now." Maki snapped back, not wanting her attention to waver again.

"I like it! Send me the complete version tonight! I'll be waiting!" And then Honoka hung up on them. Maki stared at Rin's cell phone, then at the other first year, who looked just as confused as she felt. The song she was composing wasn't supposed to be used for anything; she had just started to make it because Rin wanted to hear her play the piano.

"I guess I have no choice." Maki said, stretching her arms above her head. "Rin, sorry 'bout this."

"No, it's okay! If it's what Honoka-chan wants, then there must be a reason! I'll go find the kitchen and get us some drinks!" Rin dashed out of the room, leaving Maki alone with her piano and the unfinished score.

 _To: Umi~Umi~_

 _From: Honoka_

 _I just got an amazing idea for what we could do for the graduation speech! Also, your name on my phone is Umi~Umi~._

 _To: Honoka_

 _From: Umi_

 _Why is my name on your contacts so weird? And what is the idea? It better not be playing video games._

 _To: Umi~Umi~_

 _From: Honoka_

 _I got your phone number from Kotori-chan. She put the name in for me. I didn't look at it until now. Anyway, my idea is a song! We can sing a song instead of saying a speech!_

 _To: Honoka_

 _From: Umi_

 _What song? Anything we use, the third years already know. Plus, you have to say something._

 _To: Kotori_

 _From: Umi_

 _Why did you use "Umi~Umi~" as my name for Honoka's contacts?_

 _To: Umi~Umi~_

 _From: Honoka_

 _I called Rin-chan and she was staying at Maki-chan's place and Maki-chan was making a song so I told her to send me the complete version. You can make the lyrics! :D_

 _To: Umi-chan Love-Arrow-Shoot~_

 _From: Koto-Kotori_

 _I don't know what you're talking about. ('8')_

 _To: Honoka_

 _From: Umi_

 _I'm okay with writing the lyrics if I get the song. And do write something._

 _To: Kotori_

 _From: Umi_

 _I know my contact on your phone is just as strange as the one you put on Honoka's phone. I'll just change it myself._

 _To: Umi_

 _From: Honoka_

 _Hang on, I just got a text from Maki._

 _To: Leader_

 _From: Maki_

 _Get on video call after you listen to it._

Honoka plugged her headphones into her cell phone and pressed play on the file Maki had sent to her. Her eyes widened as she listened to the song, which already had its own lyrics. After the last note ended, Honoka switched over to video call on her phone. Maki, it seemed, was waiting for her.

"So...what did you want it for?" Maki asked, looking somewhat irritated. Honoka could see Rin in the background, poking at the keys of the piano.

"For the graduation speech. I couldn't come up with anything, but I got an idea as soon as I heard you playing. It's not very long...but it sounded familiar?"

"That was the song they had me play in the first season. You know, for the scene where you met me?" Honoka thought back and nodded, remembering that they had supposedly met when Maki was playing a song in the music room. "Since we were done, I thought I would finish it. But I only got this much done-writing lyrics is harder than I thought."

"I helped too!" Rin shouted, crowding into the camera view next to Maki.

"Thanks, both of you. Listen, I'm going to need your help in the graduation ceremony…"

Eri stood in the student council room, her hand resting on the cool metal table top as she gazed out the window. She hadn't spent much time here, not after she had joined up with the rest of Muse, and especially not after Honoka had taken over her position. "And Nozomi was the vice pres too...I wonder how the rest of the council got along without us there?"

"Huh? Eri-chan, what are you doing here?" She turned to find Honoka staring at her blankly, a stack of papers clutched tightly to her chest.

"Just reminiscing, I guess." Eri looked back out the window again. "It's hard to believe...that the graduation is finally today."

"Right? I thought I would have more time to prepare." Honoka laughed lightly as she brought the files into the room and put them onto the table.

"Did you make a proper speech? I know Umi was going after you on that." Eri asked, looking out at the family members gathering to see the ceremony.

"Yep. It's right here." Honoka patted the pocket of her blazer. "All typed up too. Look forward to it! Anyway, I have to get back to the stage, so I'll see you afterwards. Nozomi-chan and Nico-chan were looking for you, by the way." And the second year was gone. Standing around in the student council room was a much lonelier prospect than meeting up with her two friends, so Eri set off in search of them.

"As usual, your speech was useless." Umi grumbled, now that the ceremony was over and all nine of them had met up outside the Idol Research Club room. Honoka looked sheepish. "You just completely ignored everything you wrote. I know because you let me read it."

"I forgot I had it…" Honoka said, trying to ease Umi's temper. "I was only focused on the song…"

"Now, now, Umi-chan. Don't be so upset on a happy occasion." Kotori said gently, reminding her friend of the ceremony that had just finished.

"And such an important occasion too." Nico scoffed, emerging from the club room with their trophy that showed they won the Love Live. "Here, Hanayo."

"H-Huh?!" The first year almost stumbled as she caught the heavy trophy that Nico dropped into her hands. "What is this-"

"You're the next Idol Research Club president, duh. Honoka and the others will be busy with the student council, so you were next in line. Do me proud, new president." Hanayo looked around at the rest of the group as they applauded her new position.

"And to Rin-chan, here!" Honoka put her unused speech paper into Rin's hands. The first year unfolded it and read it.

"Honoka-chan...isn't this your speech?"

"I couldn't find anything else to give you to mark this occasion. Ahem. From this day forward, Rin-chan is the center for Muse! Or whatever we're going to call ourselves from now on." Rin looked mildly embarrassed as she stood there with the printed paper in her hands while the rest of them applauded for her just as they had done for Hanayo.

"That's not fair! What about Maki-chan?!" Hanayo shouted, pointing at the redheaded first year. "How come she doesn't get embarrassed at being recognized?!"

"We ran out of positions." Nico said, shrugging. Honoka gave her an apologetic look but shrugged as well.

"Maybe I'll just run for student council president." Maki said, off-handedly.

"No way! You're getting embarrassed right here and now! I'm appointing you as vice president of the Idol Research Club!" Hanayo declared, pointing a finger at her friend.

"We don't even have that position! It doesn't exist!"

"It does now!" Maki and Hanayo looked like they were going to get into an argument with each other but Rin got in the way and hit both of them on the head. Sulking, they glared at each other but made no other actions to get into conflict.

"All right, now that's over with….I'm going home. See ya." Nico took Nozomi by the hand and started walking off with her girlfriend. Eri fretted, looking between staying with Honoka and following the other third years out of the school. In the end, she trailed after them, seeing as she didn't need to stay any longer.

"We should go too." Umi said. "There's no school until the next semester."

The graduated third years were waiting for them at the school gate. "Huh? What are you still doing here?" Honoka asked as they neared them.

"It's hard to leave, you know. We won't be coming back." Nico responded, scowling. Eri and Nozomi nodded solemnly. All nine of them turned to look at the school that had given them the chance to become friends and school idols. Hanayo's phone vibrated.

"Couldn't you have picked a better time?" She grumbled, knowing full well that her friends were staring at her for the interupted moment. As she read the message, her mind went blank. "This is big news!" She shouted as she went into a dash for the school's entrance.

"What is it, Kayo-chin?!" Rin shouted, hurrying after her.

"It's big! I can't tell you until I confirm it but its something really really big!"

"I want to know!"

"Nozomi, we're supposed to go now!"

"Let's just go find out what it is!"

* * *

 **I don't know why I included text messages in this chapter. I just thought it would be funny.**

Honoka: Hey, we're all here for the credits.

Nozomi: Yeah...weird…

Umi: The first years got the beginning part, and the third years got the ending part. Us second years never had any extra lines.

Kotori: Honoka-chan appeared occassionally in the end and was a part of the beginning last chapter.

Honoka: I was asked to by Rin-chan!

Rin: That's because we couldn't do our First Year Corner like normal!

Eri: By the way...what happened to Hanayo and Maki?

Rin: They got into a fight at the beginning of the chapter…

Nozomi: Was it because of Rin-chan? :3

Maki: My heart belongs to Tsubasa-san! (At least in this work.)

Hanayo: It's because she made Rin-chan pass out!

Nico: So it was because of Rin then.

Rin: Don't say it in a way that makes them misunderstand!

Hanayo: Maki-chan. You, me, now.

Maki: You're on.

Nozomi: I'm betting on Maki-chan!~

Nico: I'll side with Nozomi.

Eri: Shouldn't we stop them?

Umi: I'm betting on Hanayo!

Eri: U-Umi?!

Kotori: She's upset that we don't get many lines. I'll also bet on Hanayo-chan~

Rin: Please stop fighting! It's the last chapter!

Hanayo: Stupid Maki-chan!

Maki: The one that says stupid is stupid!

Rin: Both of you please stop!

Honoka: They're not listening. No one's listening, so I may as well say my stuff here. Thanks for following along with Documentary up until this point, even if we may be useless at times and use cliche comedic lines.

Umi: Honoka's saying the final lines! The story's going to be over! Everyone say something!

Maki: Hanayo is an idiot!

Hanayo: Maki-chan is an idiot!

Rin: Will both of you stop fighting?!

Umi: I want more lines!

Kotori: Let's meet again in another story!

Honoka: Why's everyone getting in now…?

Eri: H-Harasho! *confused*

Nozomi: Buy me yakiniku!

Nico: I said I'd take you to a cafe!

 **The End.**

 **The Love Live Movie will also be adapted in this format, but will most likely be done as a separate story. Please wait patiently until it comes out! Thank you to everyone who supported this story! :D**


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